Strange Trails, A Spirited Away Sequel
by CerealKiller11
Summary: Chihiro had no words. In this world she really was just a hunk of coal, or a slice of meat.. Yubaba had been right all those years ago. But, returning home couldn't be the only answer. Chihiro felt wedged between worlds. One, a world of danger, and the other full of pain. How was she to choose? Or did she even have a choice? It didn't seem that way looking into his eyes now..
1. Chapter 1

The days were long working at the Inn, but that suited Chihiro just fine. The repetitious nature of menial labor made it easy for her to day dream, which was something she did quite a lot as of late.

It was hard to focus on the world around after discovering what resided between. All she could ever think about was the bath house, the train station, the cottage. It made focusing on school work nearly impossible but she'd managed to squeak by with passing grades.

It was her senior year and she was looking forward to the end of mid terms and finals. Even before allowing the spirit realm to inherit her thoughts, admittedly, school was never her strong suit. If there were a window, then she just had to look out it. If there was a blank page and a pen, she couldn't help but scribble.

Chihiro tucked in the last of the sheets around suite 15's mattress and headed to the laundry room to clock out. It was five pm on a Sunday, and her weekend shift was over. Her stomach growled ravenously. Thankfully her house wasn't far, just a few short blocks across the town she'd learned to call home. The view was nice, overlooking the valley, and she could just barely see the spire of the red clock tower from her bedroom window if she stood on tip toes and squinted hard enough.

It always seemed odd to her how close it was. When she was young that detour down the dirt road past her new house had seemed unyieldingly long. Even though the area its self was just a few miles down the road, the world within was much farther away then she was sure to fathom.

Chihiro had re-visited many times and sat until dusk, but no orange lanterns came glowing through the night. No rising tide would swallow the prairie and turn the land to sea. In fact, even the food stalls were empty old shacks, much unlike the colorful restaurants brimming with tantalizing entries, that they had been on her first time there with her parents. She supposed it had been some sort of inexplicable circumstance that had allowed them to cross that Spirit plane. A celestial alignment of some kind, or maybe just fate. None the less, she didn't fret. Though it had been nearly eight years since she'd seen Haku, he had promised they would meet again, and Chihiro had taught herself to hold patiently to his word.

It was a warm summer evening, a gentle breeze combed through the tall field grass as a chorus of crickets and cicadas bellowed through the air, numbing her ears. The fluffy clouds above held a deep shade of magenta against the tangerine sky. It was a breath taking evening, and Chihiro was certain it would look twice as beautiful from the bluff just beyond the station platform. She decided she would head there before going home, and took off down the path in her apron and slacks, hoisting her backpack over her shoulder's and whistling a tune. She hit the tree line where the little brick spirit houses all stacked in rows sprouted up from the grass. Behind them, up the hill she spied her house. It didn't quite look the way it used to, though nothing had physically changed..

The forest was quiet and still, bottle green moss coating everything in sight. This path had become so familiar to her that it was more a friend than the ones she'd made in school.

The sun was getting a bit lower in the sky and shadows fell from the trees around, but the growing dark didn't frighten her anymore. Not like it had when she was young.

However, she began to reevaluate that, when the sudden sharp snap of a twig a ways behind her gave her heart a jolt. She glanced over her shoulder as her eyes caught the outline of a jacket and hat, and a pair of jeans, walking a distance behind. Chihiro's heart skipped a beat as a sudden panic set in.

" _Calm_ _down_..." she assured herself, but what for? She had never seen another person on this trail in all her journeys here, and alone, in the woods, in the growing dark was no where to find yourself with a stranger. Chihiro glance back, trying to be discreet, pretending to study the trees. When she'd noted him getting perhaps just a few paces closer, she found it difficult to convince her legs not to take off running as fast as they could. It was a man in a navy blue sweatshirt, and a ball cap, hands stuffed in his pockets, his pace matching hers. Chihiro's fingers went numb, her nose started to tingle, and her heart kept on throbbing. She felt as though she couldn't breath. Was she in danger? Should she run? Or was it only a man out for a walk just as she was?

The train station was in view, the dark tunnel looking a bit more menacing than usual. The graffiti along its stucco walls had become more canvasing over the years.

She began to walk a little faster, trying not to over correct her pace. Another glance over her shoulder conveyed a sense of dread, for, he too had hastened his jaunt. She began a little faster, she could hear his footsteps build.

Chihiro couldn't take it anymore. She knew almost certainly that this was no coincidence. This stranger was following her, and for how long? She didn't know. Perhaps since she left town? Since she left work?

A split decision to run sent her sprinting toward the tunnel and her anxiety gave way to horror as the man yanked his hands from his pockets and started huffing after her. He clearly wasn't old. He was fast, perhaps faster than she was, but she had the advantage of knowing the land. If she could just outrun him to the other side.

She tore through the black tunnel and into the empty waiting station, the stained glass windows casting in odd colors from the twilight. Their desperate heaving breaths, and their pounding footsteps on cold cement were the only sounds that echoed through the dark, discarded building.

She couldn't believe this was happening to her. She heard him grunt through heavy gasps while his strides closed the gap between them. Fear drove her ever faster. Images of animal planet documentaries flashed into her head. A gazelle sprinting across a prairie, a Lion bounding in toe, muscles rippling, eyes alive and burning. She didn't want to die this way, or worse..

Chihiro hit the grass and the clatter of her shoes went silent, but she never slowed down. She had prayed that somehow by some miracle, this time it would be here. That perhaps this time the water would rise, and this time it would save her life. But the land was as it had been. Beautiful, desolate, and perpetually lonesome. Her only hope would be to gain some ground and find a brick, or piece of plywood to defend herself.

The dilapidated restaurant district was coming up. It was up hill, and a leap across the rocky river bottom. She could gain some ground here if she could keep up her pace. Surely that would slow him down. Her mind was racing just as fast as her heart. They sped so frantically that she didn't notice the sweet aroma of fried food in the air, or the odd red hue to the evening sky..

" _Almost there._.!" she thought desperately as she bounded over the river bed and up the stairs past the stone frog, whose mouth was wet and trickling.

" _Wait!? What_!" But the rough grip of arms around her waist quickly banished the thought.

Chihiro shrieked, her voice breaking as big terrified tears forced their way from her eyes. The man didn't speak, but he was breathing hard, struggling against her frantic arms and legs that kicked and scratched at him with all their might. He was tall and strong, and she was outmatched. He tried to hit her in the head with a balled fist but missed and hit her cheek. The blow felt sharp and then went numb. Chihiro thought her heart was going to explode.

The stranger threw her down onto the jagged steps and pinned her chest with his knees. She thought she could hear herself sobbing, and begging him to stop, but it still didn't seem real. He wound up again and hit her hard against the temple with sharp knuckles, casting her world into a bleary mess. Chihiro wouldn't let it take her. She continued to fight, wriggling as hard as she could. Her pants were soaked. She couldn't help it. Terror had taken her body out of her control.

She got one arm loose and reached up for his face, hoping to dig a finger into one of those wild ice blue eyes. They were so intense-too intense. His patchy five o' clock shadow kept twitching over his gaunt cheekbones, flexing as he struggled to force her down, tearing the backpack from her shoulders in the fray. His lips were taught, straining over his teeth as he shook from excitement, glaring down at her the way a dog might a rabbit. He struggled to wrangle her arm back under his knee, but once he did he pulled a knife from his back pocket and his eyes took on a new gaze of power.

"No, God, Please!" Chihiro heaved, her voice twisting in odd ways between her panicked breath. She shook terribly, the adrenaline buzzing in her veins, but the glistening edge of that knife shining in his heartless eyes kept her still.

The sun had gone, it was nothing but darkness now, as he cut the shirt from her chest. She kept pleading quietly through her sobs but it only seemed to thrill him more. He was about to cut the strap of her bra when an odd tinkling sound, like a music box, came floating through the air, the sound seeming to grow very quickly. Chihiro peered around them to find the prairie had been engulfed in inky black water, a colorful glowing liner floating atop its glossy surface, about to dock a few yards away.

The man was in shock, as he gazed around, completely dumbfounded. She tried to wrangle free from him but at the last second he snatched her by the hair and held his blade to her throat.

"What The **_Fuck_** Is This?!"He stammered with a growl, his words blending together as if his jaw were permanently clenched.

'I don't know!" Chihiro lied through her tears. She took a deep breath and was about to call for help when he slapped his palm over her mouth and hissed into her ear, "Scream and I'll cut your throat.!"

He drug her across the shore away from the glowing ship as its passengers filed out onto the road in an eerie heard, lofting toward the bath house.

So many feelings were flowing through Chihiro that it was hard to dissect them.

The man was muttering through panicked breaths about it being too strong.

"Elliot didn't cut this shit, what the fuck. What The FUCK.." he kept chanting.

So he was high? Maybe she could use that to her advantage. If she could just wriggle loose from his grip she could run to the bath house and find help.

"Please, let me go..!"

"Shut the fuck up! Just _shut_ the _fuck_ _up_!" He growled sharply, pushing her to the ground. It seemed he had decided that this place was just a product of his inebriation, and that he should finish what he had started.

The man threw her back down on the ground and ripped open the button on her pants. She whimpered and plead, a renewed sense of defeat in her heart, until she spotted the edges of the mans jaw beginning to disappear..

Apparently he had noticed it too, as his dilated pupils went wide, gazing down on her.

Chihiro had found a last shred of strength inside. She thrust her knee as hard as she could into his crotch and scrambled up off the grass as it tried to pull her back down. She forced against it and ran, as the man struggled to follow, unable to overcome the clutch of Yubaba's hex.

Chihiro wove through the crowd of translucent beings and kaleidoscopic monsters, with the momentum of a bird falling out of the sky, heart aching, lungs burning.

...

Lin was a greeter that night, unusual she had thought, but it was better than sauna detail. She'd plastered on her smile, and spewed the usual pleasantries to passing guests as they came over the bridge.

"Lin, what are _you_ doing here? You're never assigned greeter.?" Sai peeped from behind the wing of her pink fan.

"Don't ask me, I don't make the schedule." Lin said through a gritted smile. "Welcome, nice to see you again." she quickly sang in a poorly constructed tone of bliss, to a few of the regulars as they passed.

It was a muggy night, the mandatory Greeter fan in her hands doing very little to ease the heavy heat.

A sudden rising commotion from the crowd sounded as something came hurtling across the bridge.

"What's that smell..?" Sai said in surprise. "Is that...human?!"

Lin and the others craned over the crowd as a woman came running over the bridge in full gear. She had torn sleeves and bits of shirt trailing behind her, and what appeared to be a bloody nose. Her light blue bra was flecked in blood, and a sickly bruise colored its way across her temple. She came crashing into Lin before she could throw herself out of the way.

"Lin..? LIN! Please Help Me!" The woman cried.

A shocking wave of recognition washed over Lin as she gazed into those familiar, now terrified, eyes.

"Sen!? Is That _You_?!" Lin cried in disbelief. "How did you-!? Whats Going On?!"

Chihiro was beginning to disappear as she tried to speak through gasps for air. Lin took her by the shoulders and rushed her to a quiet corner.

The crowd of fellow workers had heard her say her name and word was spreading fast of Chihiro's return.

Lin snatched the nearest food trolley and handed Chihiro a bit of cracker to eat to keep her from vanishing. Chihiro's throat was hoarse and dry and swallowing it down was nearly impossible.

"Chihiro Who Did This?" Lin demanded, her shock subsiding into anger. She glanced down and noticed Chihiro's pants, the button and zipper ripped open, a blotch of wet down the front. She snatched a towel from a near by rack and draped it over her shoulders.

"What happens when you disappear!?" Chihiro demanded frantically, wild wide eyes searching for answers. The thought of that man watching her from the shadows was a thought she couldn't bear.

"What do you mea-"

"What Happens!?"

Lin was too startled to speak, she'd never seen such a frightened expression before. Her nose was still bleeding, and the bruise on her temple was starting to leak into the white of her left eye. Sai came rushing to them.

"Yubaba's on the way!" She said urgently, studying Chihiro with a furrowed brow of confusion.

"There's a man out there-a human-he followed me here, he-" Chihiro exclaimed frantically, unable to catch her breath. She was looking deep into Lin's eyes, aware of every groove and ripple within her rich, chocolate brown iris's. Chihiro had been deathly certain she'd never see another face again. Just that man with the pale eyes that held all the things he would do in them. Lin's eyes were a heaven away, and what a true gift it was to see them, now. But, even so, Chihiro couldn't keep herself from shaking.

A Sorceress came swooping down from the floors above in a violent wind.

"Sen, my God It's true! Where?!" Yubaba growled, an actual fire burning in her giant angry eyes, smoke billowing from her monstrous nose.

"The staircase-the last food stall to the water.." Chihiro managed to stutter through gasps. "He's caught..he can't get up anymore.."

Yubaba flashed out into the night over the bridge knocking over guests as she went. Chihiro watched her disappear, feeling unsteady, as if she were about to faint. The pressure beneath her temples was nearly unbearable.

"Come on, lets get you cleaned up." Lin said as she held her around the shoulders and lead her toward the employee showers.

...

Haku had finally gotten Zeniba to sign for the transport of her herbs. Her asking price was hefty but the quality was well worth it. He was just getting back when the sight of the Bathhouse bridge stopped him in his flight. He descended down and landed softly on the bridge near a cluster of anxious guests all holding their noses. That's when he smelled it. _Human_. A ping of excitement jolted him to life. He hadn't smelled that scent in nearly eight years, not since little Chihiro had stumbled through the gate. Haku sprinted through the crowd up to the foreman.

"What's going on?" He demanded urgently.

"Master Haku!" The foreman cried in surprise, "It's Sen! She's-

"Where Is She?!"

"Lin's got her, somethings happened!?" And that was when Haku found a very different smell, metallic, like copper.. He glanced down at the bridge to find small flecks of wet crimson dotting the trail she had taken. His heart ignited in his chest as he took off after the scent. It lead to the employee showers. He burst into the girls bath hall to find it empty, her blood trail gone down the drain beside a wash basin full of red rags. Haku's heart was pounding viscously in his chest. He tore out into the foyer and grabbed the closest employee to him. It was Sai.

"Where is Chihiro.!" He growled.

"L-Lin took her up to rest." she stammered nervously, but before she could finish he had already gone, leaving in his wake a torrid gust of wind.

He threw back the door to the girl's quarters, and like some precious nightmare, there she was, just barely recognizable, not only from the bruises on her face, but also by the way that time had changed it.

Chihiro looked up at him with big russet eyes, one of them clouded in red. She couldn't believe what she saw.

There he was. Haku. But perhaps, not.

He was so tall, his hair grown long to his broad chest. Those viridian eyes were looking down at her with such an expression she couldn't place.

"Chihiro.." he nearly whispered, walking gently forward to crouch beside her. "Who did this..?" His voice was stunningly tranquil, contrasting greatly against the proceedings of the night.

"Yubaba's found him. The monster is up in her cellar." Lin hissed angrily. But Chihiro knew that he wasn't asking Lin. His eyes were bearing into hers, unmoving and surreal.

Had this all been a dream? Chihiro couldn't be sure. A heavy and hazy exhaustion was taking her down faster with every painful throb of her head.

She needed to be sure that he was there. Chihiro lifted up a slow and unsteady hand, her knuckles colored in battered purple stains.

Haku smiled a knowing kind of smile, and opened his hand to Chihiro as her fingers tipped his palm just as they had all those years ago.

This certainly had to be a dream. It just couldn't be real. A sudden sharp throb in the back of her skull sent her vision a blur. Haku began to fade away.

"..no.." Chihiro whispered as her eyes fluttered shut. Her body went limp and fell gently into Haku's arms.

He lay her down on a bedroll, grazing her temples with spellbound fingertips, weaving around within, healing the parts of her that had been hurt.

He caught images that set his blood to boil. He could hear her begging, see the mans lips flex as he pulled out the knife and cut away her clothes. He could see how powerful he felt, frightening her, hurting her. He saw the man raise his fist and heard the sound of it strike flesh and bone, and the cry she had made. And worse, he saw what he wanted to do to her. What he would have done to her. Haku pulled his hands away. He had seen enough.

"Your safe now." He promised, taking her up in his arms and carrying her to the door, leaving Lin in a heavy silence. He paused in the doorway, his back to her as he growled his demand.

"Tell Yubaba He's Mine.."

...

Chihiro awoke from a terrible dream with a start. She looked about to find that she wasn't in her room, nor _any_ room that looked familiar to her. It was of moderate size, the walls all textured stucco and rusty red. She lay on a low mattress dressed in soft cotton white sheets. Shelves lined the walls ordained heavy with books and incense burners dusted in ash, little lock boxes and marbled orbs. On a small table with one single chair a beautiful onyx Mortar and pestle sat surrounded by many antithetic corked vials full of plants and rainbow powders. She looked up to find delicate chains holding fast to beautiful painted glass lanterns that burned softly casting mysterious purple and blue patterns around the room as they spun delicately.

It was such a fascinating room. Perhaps an apothecaries quarters?

Chihiro stood slowly and walked to the window sill as the dream she'd had settled back into reality.

What had happened was real..

The window was set deep into the wall and outside she could see the moon and stars glistening over the glass sea below.

She was really here..

Chihiro headed to the door to find someone she knew, but when the brassy knob began to twist as it opened, she jumped back in surprise. Haku stood in the door looking robust as ever, the top of his head nearly brushing its frame.

"You're awake." He smiled warmly. "I'm sorry. I didn't intend for you to wake up alone in a strange place."

Now that her panic had marginally subsided Chihiro had time to truly see how Haku had changed. He was so tall. She had to crane her neck to look up at him. Regretfully she herself hadn't gotten much taller. Something she'd been given a lot of grief for in school.

He could truly see her now, as well. Her hair wasn't tied back and it fell around her shoulders a bit tousled from sleep. She seemed to notice him looking at it and methodically brushed it behind her ears with a blush. She was so pretty, he mused. So grown up. He had wondered how she might look as time passed, and was now in near awe to see it.

"I can't tell you how wonderful it is to see you again, Chihiro." Haku went on. "I hope you slept well."

Chihiro wanted to respond but the imagery from the night before was really sinking in now, though she desperately tried to push it from her mind.

"Whose room is this?" She asked quietly, glancing back from the door way.

"This is my room." He said with another smile. "I thought you might want some space from the others. For a little while. Forgive me if my judgment was wrong."

"No, that..thank you." Chihiro stammered.

"You must be hungry. Lets find some breakfast." He said as he closed the door behind her and escorted her down the hall.

The sun was setting fast as they ate in a quiet courtyard full of deep pink flowers. The rest of the bath house was just starting to stir and prepare for their guests. The silence was comfortable but Chihiro's heart was swimming.

"I've come here so many times, Haku..." Chihiro whispered, her hazelnut eyes studying her chopsticks thoughtfully. "Looking for a way back...But I never found it. And now...Here I am."

Haku wasn't sure what to say. Her far away eyes and mellow tone were unlike her.

"What happened to him?" she whispered, locking her eyes with his in such a way that it made the hair on his neck stand straight up.

"Never you mind that. He wont be a problem to anyone now." Haku explained, a severity to his tone that gave Chihiro the chills. She nodded and looked back to her food, seeming distant. But could she be blamed? So much had happened once more, to her, in such a short span. It was a wonder she even left his room.

"Your not going to send me home are you..?" she asked sullenly, glancing back to him with watering eyes. Haku was a bit taken back by the question.

"Your parents are probably worried about you, Chihiro.."

"Can I stay. Just for a little while." She plead.

Haku nodded, confused and concerned, but at that point he would say anything to make her feel alright again.

"I think I would like to work." She added as she ran her thumb over the side of her small index finger.

"Are you sure?" Haku asked in sheer surprise.

Chihiro nodded. "I need to get out of my head."

He brought her to Yubaba, who, to his surprise, embraced her in a hug. The old witch didn't seem to mind being called granny any more, in fact she had insisted. She called up Lin who happily explained she'd been assigned dish duty and was thankful she'd not have to do it alone with all the frogs.

"Such a strong Human girl, isn't she Haku." Yubaba mused. "It's no wonder you care for her so..." She sat back down behind her massive desk and sighed.

"I think you'd better decide what to do with this worm before I squash him myself." She said sharply thrusting her hand back and sending a curtain open to reveal the archway down a flight of spiral stone stairs. "He's beginning to stink up my office."

Haku made his way down the stairwell, struggling to control his anger. He couldn't decide what was best to do in such a situation.

The animal in him wished to tear the beast to pieces and feed them to the pigs, and an even darker side wished to flay him slowly, keep him alive to suffer as long as was possible. Would that make him a monster? Perhaps it would. But he would own that title if it would bring justice.

He stepped inside a dark dank room full of nothing but a set of dangling shackles that held the human creature. He stank of sweat and piss and it stung at the air in a detestable way.

The man woke suddenly to the sound of Haku's light steps echoing softly. He looked up at him and began to chatter and hyperventilate almost immediately.

"Please, get me out of here, I don't know whats going on..I don't know where I am.!" He went on rambling, breathing hard against the strained position of his ribcage.

"Quiet." Haku demanded sharply, standing before him. The humans wide and desperate eyes furrowed into agonized dread, upon realizing that this stranger was not here to help him.

The human was an ugly man. Maybe that was why he needed to take what he could not have. He was the kind of man that continued to plague and tarnish the human race. A waste of space. A waste of flesh.

"I don't suppose you know anything of Wyvren mythology?." Haku began calmly. The man looked at him clueless and afraid as he swung a bit in his shackles, sweat trickling from his wet hair down into his eyes. His breaths began to tremble. Haku could hear the mans heart beat just a little bit faster.

"I just wanna go home man. I just wann-" He cut him short with a wave of his hand.

Haku eyed him, evaluating his trashy choice of dress, "You don't exude the impression of a man well read.. So I'll begin by saying that we have been around much longer than your kind, Human, and yet you know so little about us. Elusive as we can be, its not really your fault. But I'm going to educate you.."

The man squeaked a bit as Haku began to circle him. His heart beating increasingly faster.

"I've been known to have a bit of a heated temperament from time to time, but its very few and far between that I experience the urge to kill...unless provoked. And you have most certainly provoked me.."

"I didn't mean to, whatever I did man I'm sorry just please let me go." He cried. He was barely a man, maybe 20 years old. Some spoiled kid with a consumption problem, but pity wouldn't spare him from the anger Haku held within.

"You don't know what you've done?" Haku said mockingly, sharply slapping his hand onto the mans temple, causing him to yelp like a small dog. The mans eyes flashed with the images he himself had created the night before. Chihiro crying and screaming, his own reflection in her terrified eyes.

"No! NO MAN that wasn't me, I was high, someone messed with my shit, please, I Didn't know what I was doing!-" He sobbed. It echoed up the stairs. To Haku it seemed the whole bath house might hear him beg for his life.

"Quiet." Haku reminded with a hiss, and the man obeyed as best he could.

"I am usually very reasonable, but you've threatened something very close to my heart. You'll find me to be quite protective by nature, a symptom of my species, I'm afraid." Haku narrowed his eyes, conveying the severity of his conviction.

"Your despicable behavior will merit your death.." He finalized.

The man started to scream and struggle against his chains.

"Please god don't kill me! I didn't know she was yours! I didn't Know!"

His hollering enraged Haku who let his true form through as the man shrieked and screamed impossibly louder. The Dragon swooped around him bearing fangs, his green eyes alive with rage. He dug a razor claw into the mans cheek and the smell of his rusty blood brought him back to his senses. He retained his upright form and shook his head in frustration, and disappointment.

"Oh My God! What The Fuck!" The human went on screaming in disbelief, after witnessing the impossible spectacle of fang and scale that Haku had become.

"I wont ask you again to be quiet." Haku directed with a hiss as sharp as a scalpels blade. "Now listen very carefully. I'm going to let this weak body you possess, become your prison. Time is going to kill you, and your hourglass is running thin..so meditate long and hard on the things that you've done, and pray that whatever god you worship, has it in his heart to forgive you." Haku's words were cold and bearing into the mans soul like a river of ice. He turned his back on him, stopping in the archway just before ascending the stairs, and whispered. "Understand that this is a just, and merciful death, in comparison to the one you deserve.." and as Haku slowly climbed the stairs he cast a spell on the mans lips to seal them shut, to silence his desperate wailing.

Yubaba stood rigidly at the foot of her desk, a hand clutching a showy string of pearls around her wide neck, scarcely breathing beneath the weight of his vexed presence. She could feel the heat of his conflicted rage being pressed within him. She could hear it in his voice when it had tumbled up the stairwell, how badly he'd wished to mutilate the scourge below. Yubaba's vacillating eyes followed him as he swept silently from her office, and in his wake the sorceress found that she could finally breath once more.


	2. Chapter 2

Chihiro was up to her elbows in soapy sink water. Lin had been catching her up on all the day to day since she'd been gone. Yubaba was noticeably tolerable, and allotted them fair wages and the freedom to do what they wished with time off to boot. Though many of the bath house workers found that life beyond the island was rather unaccommodating toward lower level spirits, sending them back to Yubaba, where wages and housing were at least available, even if they did have to tolerate the old witch's standards.

Haku had taken on the task of collecting herbs for Kumaji to turn into soaks, which explained why his room looked like a mystics alchemy lab.

Lin's gossip was really starting to help. For the first time she managed to smile a little, and Lin had boasted that she'd finally gotten to see it.

"You've grown up so much, Chihiro." Lin commented thoughtfully, nudging her hip into hers, "sure haven't gotten any taller though."

"Yeah, yeah. I know." Chihiro sighed, a faint grin playing her lips, before a small burst of excitement lit up her eyes.

"Hey, can we go visit Kumaji?"

Lin grumbled, dropping a tea tray heavy into the drying rack. "Nah. That lucky old bastards on vacation for the next few months. He's got those pesky little soot balls doing all his work. Half assed job I might add."

Chihiro sighed. It would have been comforting to see him.

"So how long are you planning on staying?" Lin inquired hopefully. But before Chihiro could respond, the foreman came peeping into the kitchen with a bark,

"Lin, when your finished in here, its your turn to stock towels in the Yellow Wing."

"Because you seem real busy!." Lin growled. "Come on Sen, the faster we do this the faster we can have a break."

They split up with their trolleys towering high with white fluffy towels. The Yellow Wing was closed for the night, only a few of the baths had occupants. It was protocol to restock as quietly and discreetly as possible so as not to disturb the guests. Thankfully all the tubs of every room on her side seemed empty, that was, until she came to one stall whose lantern was flickering gently against the walls, hazy through the hot steam. The bath smelled of rosemary and salt brine, and through the haze she could just make out a figure poised, arms wide, resting leisurely along the rim of the tub. Chihiro kept her head respectfully low and went to stock the towels in the wicker shelves along the far wall.

It was a man in the Tub, smoking a cigarette that mixed oddly in the wet air. She finished and was headed back to her trolley when the man said softly, his voice low and melodic.

"Thank you."

Chihiro turned and bowed, keeping her eyes low. "Your welcome, sir."

Chihiro met Lin in the hall. After storing their carts the two crept out the back to an empty garden table. She also lit up a cigarette and pulled a small flask from her work apron.

"Its a beautiful night, isn't it Sen.? Look at that moon.."

She was right. It certainly was a gorgeous night. A warm breeze was flowing gently, a big bellied tangerine of a moon glowed warmly against the navy sky. It was a perfect night. If only the bitter after taste from the night before would let her be.

" _It didn't_ _happen_." her internal mantra sounded on in her head. But what _had_ happened seemed to have been enough to leave her more than just a little shaken.

An odd feeling was pressing on her. A struggle to be happy. Even here in her personal heaven she couldn't quite achieve it. But why? Her strife was over wasn't it?

It surely didn't feel that way. She had seen the true danger that resided in the world, and seen how weak and ill prepared she was to face it. She would never feel safe again.

Quick footsteps sounded toward them across the garden path. Chihiro's stomach wrenched as she shot up from her seat and stumbled frantically away from the sound, tripping on a chair as she shoved it out of her way.

"Lin, The Radish spirit is stuck in the elevator aga-" One of Lin's co-workers stopped mid sentence when he found Chihiro so exasperated.

Lin looked up at Chihiro from the table, perplexed and concerned.

"Sen?" She asked carefully. Chihiro shook her head and pulled at her hair a bit.

"Sorry I, I'm sorry, I thought-."

"Whoa, whoa it's OK, don't worry about it."

Chihiro felt like a complete mess, and though the urge had never existed before, the cigarette in Lin's hand was looking pretty tantalizing. A first experience to drown a plethora of other horrifying firsts.

Unthinking she reached for it and took a long drag as Lin starred wide eyed and speechless. It tasted awful, but a buzzing wave of relaxation trickled through her veins that urged her to sit back down.

"Could I have one of those?" Chihiro asked as Lin stood up to go help Radish spirit.

"Uh, sure." she said quizzically handing her a shiny tin cigarette case. "But Don't tell Haku I let you smoke or he'll Kill me." She chortled as she rounded the corner of the garden.

Chihiro sat down and opened the tin. It had a pretty Geisha painted on its face and four long cigarettes and a book of matches within. As she took one she caught a glimpse of her reflection in its mirror coating. The bruise on her eye was healing fast thanks to Haku. In fact it was barely noticeable. She lit the cigarette and cringed a bit but took another drag, and another, and before she knew it the buzz had her heavy in her chair, nearly unable to stand.

"What IS this." She sighed. She'd seen people smoke all the time and never once had they seemed immobilized by it. She was considering putting it out when the sliding door to the garden opened softly and there stood Haku looking dumbfounded.

"Haku..I..Uh.." Chihiro crushed the cigarette into the ash tray on the table with a blush. Her sudden movement sent her head spinning.

"Good evening, Chihiro. I didn't know you'd started smoking." He said casually but the shadow of a look in his eyes was telling.

"No, I just.." She tried to say, but her stomach was turning and her mouth was getting hot. She was certain she'd had too much.

"I don't think I like smoking." She groaned, sitting up slowly, hoping she wouldn't puke.

"I'm relieved to hear it. Are you alright?" He sunk into the chair beside her and smiled. Chihiro let her head fall onto the table as she held her wretched stomach, waves of nausea lapping at her insides.

"How do people do this all the time? Its awful!" She exclaimed quietly. Haku just chuckled. At that moment Lin came around the corner.

"Alright give me my cigarettes, I swear every time that Radish spirit comes here he should learn that-" she stopped dead when she spotted Haku in her chair beside a pale and sickly looking Sen. "Well, hey there Haku. Lovely night isn't it. What!? Sen! have you been smoking my cigarettes?! Here I'll just take those and.." Lin snatched her cigarette case off the table and scampered away, Haku shaking his head after her.

"Here." He offered, taking Chihiro's hand from her stomach and weaving his fingers between hers. The moment their grip was locked she felt a cool wave of relief wash over her.

"Better?" He asked, his warm smile and welcoming eyes stealing away the world. They were dazzling, the green hue to his eyes like a ponds reflection of a northern hinterland. She was so caught in them that she had forgotten that he had asked her a question. In fact, she just starred until the heat from his hand around hers tore her back to reality. She blushed a deep red that tingled her cheeks, and his smile flashed pearly white fangs as he watched it color her face. She tore her gaze to the table and pulled her hand away as he listened to the heart beating rhythmically in her chest.

"Chihiro, I came to ask you if you'd like to have my room for the duration of your stay." He was so calm, but her response was far from that. He heard her heart set off in her chest impossibly faster followed by a catch in her throat as he'd asked it. Her cheeks had darkened to the deepest shade of crimson.

"You can have it all to yourself." He clarified, "I don't sleep often, and besides, Its reassuring for me knowing that your safe. There's a room adjacent to mine that's empty. I can stay there."

Chihiro glanced up at him shyly, her eyes nearly watering from blushing so hard. She smiled a timid grin and nodded.

"That would be nice..."


	3. Chapter 3

Chihiro lay awake in Haku's bed, feeling like an idiot. It smelled like him. Clean and mouthwatering. It took every ounce of her being to keep from snooping around through his things. How was she supposed to sleep when just the thought of being in his room gave her butterflies, much less actually lying beneath his bedsheets?

She tossed and turned trying to keep her eyes shut but there was just so much to look at. Besides, when she closed her eyes she'd see things she didn't want to see anymore.

Chihiro sat up slowly glancing around the room. The light in the joined room where Haku was staying glowed softly from beneath his door. The sun had come up outside, but the shade was heavy and let in very little light.

She wondered what he was up to in there. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if she just took a peak?. She crept to the door as silently as she could. She peered through the glowing crack but tripped on the edge of a heavy woven rug that sent her face slamming into the door. She yelped and slapped a hand to her stinging nose. A rustling could be heard and before she could scramble back to bed Haku had opened the door.

"Chihiro..?"

Chihiro's face burned so hot that she thought it might catch fire.

"I u-uh, I thought this was the hall door, and..then I tripped a little..and.." She could tell Haku wasn't buying it but he was too much of a gentleman to call her bluff. He played along without skipping a beat.

"Well, the door to the hall is right there.." He said casually, leaning on the frame with a playful grin. "Where were you headed?"

"To the.."

 _bathroom_ was the first thing that came into her mind, but she couldn't say that! She'd die from embarrassment!

"Outside..." She said slowly, realizing how absurd it sounded, but knowing that it was far too late.

"To the outside?" Haku asked, his grin spreading into a beautiful smile. "Would you mind if I joined you? I'm not very tired myself."

Chihiro nodded, nearly in tears from her own stupid mouth. " _Gah,now he thinks your an idiot, nice going._." She groaned internally.

The morning was cool, the sun just starting to breech the horizon. He had taken her down a winding path through the gardens and into a wood that stretched down the backside of the slope that held the bathhouse. It was full of birch and white wax trees that made the woods look bleached and ghostly, and it gave a sharp sappy tinge to the chilly dew frosted air.

"I never realized this place was so big?" Chihiro said in awe as she gazed around at the beauty of the forest.

"Yes. There is a lot more to this place than you've probably seen. This world is as limitless as your own, after all." He added lightly, brushing his hand across the pale flesh of a thick birch tree.

"Then why stay here? I mean..You can fly! If I could do that I'd want to see everything.." Chihiro sighed gazing through the trees at the tranquil sea below.

"I do my fare share of traveling. My work requires it. Though, I always come back here. Ever since I lost my river this has been my home...for better or for worse."

"I know what you mean.." Chihiro mused. "Ever since I came here..I don't think I ever really left."

They stepped over fallen branches and moseyed over soft moss until he brought them to a rocky overlook stained in lichen. It was as if they had walked into a fairytale. The sandstone cliff cascaded down to a grassy shoreline, its sea as still and clear as glass. Ancient fallen trees poised beneath the water like ruins frozen in time.

"Wow.." she whispered as a gentle sea wind caressed her twany hair.

Across the sea she saw little islands dotting their way into the foggy morning beyond. At dusk those islands would burn like fireflies and cast out their liners full of happy passengers looking for fine food and good company. It was so beautiful, as if her eyes weren't meant to see it.

Haku didn't see it at all. All he could see where those warm Amber eyes glittering in the sunrise as it came. He loved the way she was. So full of life and possibility. So small, and yet, so unbreakable. He found himself starring at her lips. How soft they looked. He wondered what they might taste like.. Haku caught himself and broke his gaze and cast it across the glowing horizon.

"How old were you when you fell in my river, Chihiro?" Haku asked her softly, trying not to disturb the beauty of that tranquil morning.

"Hm? I was four?" She peeped.

"So your seventeen?" He asked in amusement. He often forgot how young she was. Age wasn't often something he needed to concern himself with.

"Eighteen, last month." Chihiro said matter of factly, crossing her arms over her chest. "How old are you, Haku?"

Haku smiled with a shrug. "This body is twenty seven, but my spirit is a few hundred years old if I'm not mistaken. Its a fickle thing to try and keep track of." he admitted gently.

Chihiro couldn't keep her mouth from going slack. She suddenly felt quite minuscule. She must be as plain and stupid as a rock to him.

"I'm sorry, does that displease you?" He inquired, a look of concern furrowing his brow, as he noticed her starring oddly in his direction.

"No, sorry!" Chihiro said slapping herself back to reality. "I just..thats really..interesting. So this form of you is 27? Thats still a lot older than I thought you'd be.."

"Does my age make you uncomfortable?"he asked with a brow gently raised, looking a bit confused.

"Well no, I mean not here but..where I'm from.." Chihiro began as she debated the relevance of her next thought. He was starring expectantly at her so she spewed out the rest of her sentence.

"We'll where I'm from its really inappropriate for older men to talk to young girls..you know.?." But judging by the look on his face he didn't know at all. "just..never mind." She quickly added, realizing that she'd made it awkward.

"You mean to say that it is inappropriate for an older man to peruse a sexual relationship with a younger woman?"

Chihiro's heart went skidding off beat as he'd said the word.

"Yes, that's what I meant..." she added shyly.

"So my age does makes you uncomfortable?" He asked once more.

"No! Of course not! I mean, you don't want to be with me..in that way or anything, anyway, and were here, and not in my world, so.." Chihiro mumbled nervously, feeling increasingly more stupid with each word that tumbled from her lips.

"I would love to be with you." Haku said calmly, starring right at her without a single flinch. Just a smile and those gorgeous green eyes. He was a little stumped when her heart began to pound strangely in her chest. Humans seemed to him very odd creatures, always exhibiting fascinating reactions to the simplest and most apparent truths and feelings. It was as if they had been raised to fight themselves and fear the obvious. Chihiro seemed speechless. He thought maybe he'd said something wrong.

"Are..you asking me something?" she said so very shyly, her cheeks lighting up her face. It looked as though she were afraid to look him in the eye.

Now it was Haku's heart that had suddenly started to race. He hadn't even realized how he'd walked right into this moment. He'd thought long and hard about when would be the best time, and had not expect it to creep up on him the way it had.

"But you have to go home, Chihiro. Your parents.."

Chihiro's eyes seemed to get very far away when he spoke of them.

"Its been two whole days, don't you think they're very worried about you?"

She looked down at her shoes and smiled a pained little smile. It was time to tell him.

"Haku, my parents passed away." she said softly. He was silent, a small fracture reverberating in his chest.

"They were in a car accident almost..five years ago now.." she seemed to say in a near sense of awe at how long it had already been since their passing.

"My uncle has been trying to sell our house, but the market is pretty bad. Has been for a while..so he's staying there with me until we do..He's asking too much for it..but just in case he ever does manage to sell it, I've been working at an Inn, saving up for a little apartment above the laundromat. I mean..I'm eighteen now..if I left now..I just couldn't.." she said shaking her head.

"I'm so sorry, Chihiro."

All she could do was nod like an idiot as he took her in his arms. She seemed even smaller to him when he'd held her. She trembled softly from the pulse he could feel beneath her skin, which felt cold to the touch. He looked down and saw her shoulders flecked in small bumps.

"Your cold. Lets head back."

Haku walked Chihiro into his room and shut the door behind them. He hadn't said a thing since she had told him about her parents. It was kind of nice, not having to know what to say.

He took her by the hand and lead her to his bed. She blushed as she always did when he was near to her, but then to her surprise and sweet relief he pulled her softly down onto his chest. She had never felt him so closely. The steady flow of his breaths came and went like a soft tide. The rhythm of his heart counting away the seconds until twilight. He held her hand gently running his finger over her knuckles. This was the love she had needed so badly when they had gone, and here it was. Finally, like a heavy pack at the end of a road she let it go, and a wave of tears followed by a calm and warm exhaustion flowed from her. Haku was there, silent and encompassing, holding her steady like a calm sea holds an island.

When she woke Haku was still there, eyes closed, breathing softly. The sun was setting and she could hear the boiler roaring. He opened his eyes when she stirred and sat up on his elbows. He looked at her for a moment that seemed endless.

"Stay as long as you like." He said, seeming to be searching her eyes for something.

"However, if-" Chihiro crashed into him before he could continue. Both equally surprise by how she'd pressed her lips to his as though he were water in a desert. Haku was stunned, even after she pulled away. They sat starring wide eyed at one another.

Was that bad to do? Had she over stepped? Would this ruin everything? So many questions went whirring through her head. But inside Haku's mind all he could see, or feel or smell was her. An oddly delightful and yet, terrifying sensation began to trickle down his spine the second her lips had touched his. Something centuries old and all too primal for such a small creature as she. He collided into her with a catch of breath.

She had done something to him, he wasn't sure what. All he knew for sure was that he needed her. His hands tangled into her hair as she climbed on top of him, their hearts pounding away like drums. She was like nothing he'd ever felt, soft and warm and honey sweet, and surprisingly less shy than he'd ever imagined she'd be.

It seemed she too had been picked up in the odd current they'd created. She pressed her body into his and when he pressed back a sound escaped her lips that colored her face and neck deep red. Haku tried to keep his blood flowing evenly but failed in mere seconds, and she noticed almost instantly from where she'd straddled him. She glanced down and back up again with wide doe eyes. To Chihiro's delight, a faint blush had colored his face. She Had been fairly certain that blushing were not something he was capable of.

She knew she wanted this, she was sure of it. She pulled him on top of her and wrapped her legs around him. He looked utterly and entirely blown away. She pulled off his shirt and ran her hands over the muscle beneath his bare skin. He was strong and broad and mouthwatering.

He kissed her tenderly and deeply and began to lift her shirt up over her waist when a sharp voice from beyond his door came crashing through their world like a freight train.

"Haku, you sick, demented-" The lock slid open from the outside as Yubaba used her magic to enter. She walked in just in time to see Haku flash like a gust of wind right into her face with a snarl on his lips.

" **Knock** , **You** **Old** **Crone**!" He growled so sharply it made both Yubaba and Chihiro jump. Chihiro scrambled up off the bed straightening her shirt as her whole body blushed a deep shade of crimson. Yubaba looked between Chihiro's tousled hair and Haku's naked chest, star struck for a moment and then she smirked while shaking her head.

"Haku, you left a mess in my office. Clean it up." She barked as she headed down the hall. "When your done of course," she added with a chuckle that seemed to echo through the whole bath house.

Haku turned to find Chihiro standing looking like a deer in head lights.

"I..uh.." Haku stammered. Rubbing his neck nervously.

"I better get ready for work.." Chihiro blurted, ringing her fingers.

"Right, and I better.." He continued awkwardly gesturing down the hall to Yubaba's office.

"Right." she said with a nod. "See ya."

"until later." he said with a bow before he went dashing down the hall to ring that old birds neck. The shirt she'd slipped off his back trembled suddenly, up off the floor and gave Chihiro a quick start as it followed him out into the hall, appearing as though it were on some kind of invisible string.

On his way to Yubaba's office Haku realized that he'd been so taken back by her kiss that he'd never had the chance to explain the stipulations of her stay. If she wished to reside in this world, she would need to remain within the grounds of the bath house. The realm, was, after all, quite unwelcoming to humans, and those who would welcome her, were surely inspired by cruel intentions. Yubaba's blessing was the only thing keeping her safe within the bathhouse walls, And beyond them, Haku would be her only defense.

Haku felt quite uneasy with his own choice to allow her stay. It certainly wasn't the safest choice, but it would be nearly impossible to convince her of that after enduring the danger of her own world that had brought her here this time around. But all these qualms were a mere shadow of a thought beneath the thrill her skin had given him. He would find the time, sooner or later, to explain it all to her. For now, he'd have to peel the smile from his lips and plaster on a scowl for Yubaba and her careless intrusion.

"Having a little breakfast before breakfast?" Yubaba said raising a brow as he entered her office. Haku just growled,

"What is it you want."

"I know you're a serious man with a sorted past but, thats just sick." She said gesturing her gnarled and copiously ordained index finger toward the cellar.

Haku looked at her like she had gone mad,

"What in the hell are you talking about?"

"His tongue..among other things..I know if cured they can be a rather rare ingredient..but I expected you to have a better sense of morality than that."

"What?!" Haku asked in alarm as he headed down to the cellar to find a rather sickening sight. The man was still hanging in the shackles where he'd left him but to his horror the mans jaw had been cut from his skull, and his tongue sliced out. The eye sockets were sagging and empty, and each of his fingers, including his thumbs had been removed.

"You could have at least disposed of the body." Yubaba grumbled. "I mean, what's left of it."

"I didn't do this!?" Haku said sharply.

Yubaba's face darkened. Haku was to her, a mouthy and impeccably stubborn dragon, but by no means was he a liar.

"Then whoever did may still be here.." she baffled.

Haku tore up the stairs to search of Chihiro. If there were a Dybbuk, or Collector in the bathhouse, then she was in grave danger. He checked his room to find it empty. She must have already gone to work. He ran to the work chart to find her name under floor duty. He headed to the foyer as fast as he could without raising alarm. They were lighting the lamps, and the first of the new arriving customers were filing in. Floor duty was long past. Where would she be now? He asked around and no one seemed to know.

A heavy panic overwhelmed him. He swept through the halls, devistated by the possiblity of never seeing her face again.


	4. Chapter 4

Chihiro was straightening up the bed rolls and floor mats of the guest room sector, daydreaming about Haku. She had never felt a thrill like the one she'd had with him, and now she couldn't get the smile off her face.

Chihiro hoped he wouldn't mind trying it again soon. Maybe a little more slowly.

She heard footsteps behind her, and for the first time she wasn't afraid. She was much to happy to be afraid.

"I'm sorry but the rooms not ready yet." She sang politely as she turned around to smile at the guest. She recognized him from the night before. It was the man in the tub, who had thanked her.

To her surprise he had a deep gray bandage tied around his right eye, But beneath it he was a handsome man, with long black hair pulled back into a knot. He wore a flat pitch kimono, and looked nothing like the usual spirits who came and went. In fact he looked a little like Haku in some ways. She assumed he was some kind of elemental spirit too, taking on a form more suitable for indoor purposes.

"Hey, is this yours?." The man's tone seemed so familiar. He held out a back pack to her, and it certainly was hers. She took it in awe.

"How did you know it was mine?!"

"Your a human, and that is a CD player. Don't see many of those around. Great taste by the way. Leonard Cohen, Sinatra, and I think I caught the first few riffs from the King Cry Baby Soundtrack before I felt guilty for snooping" He said with a raised brow and a devils smile.

"How do you know about any of those things..?" Chihiro asked, her voice growing timid and soft as a deep blush colored her face.

"I travel a lot in my line of work. And don't be embarrassed, it's a pretty good movie if your into that whole satire thing."

"Are you a River spirit?" She whispered in disbelief. The handsome man just smiled playfully, "What's your name?"

"Chihiro," She offered a bit leery, "But most people call me Sen."

"Well, Chihiro, It was lovely meeting you." The man said as he gave a bow, and turned on his heel.

"Wait! You never told me your name..?" Chihiro called after him, but the man just waved a hand in the air as he headed down the hall.

"Well, that was weird.." Chihiro studied the contents of her bag. Everything appeared to be there. Her after work clothes and hiking boots. Her sleeve of CD's, her Walkman and headphones, and more importantly, her father's map. A bit weathered and well loved, but perfectly there all the same.

It was then that Haku appeared in the door way looking exasperated and out of breath. He seemed to pull back his composure upon locking eyes with her.

"Hello Chihiro. I've been looking for you." He said with a forced calm to his voice.

"What is it?" Chihiro asked as the butterflies in her stomach began their assault.

He was about to speak when he noticed the pack in her hands.

"Whats that?" He asked, eying it curiously.

"Hmm? Oh, its my bag. I thought I lost it but one of our guests found it."

"Who?" His tone just a bit too sharp.

"Uh, I don't know. He never told me his name.?" Chihiro added timidly, "Is something wrong?"

"No, of course not." A warm grin took his lips. The last thing he wanted was for her to feel afraid again. The man in the cellar wasn't something she need concern herself with any longer.

"Are you sure because you seemed really tense before..?" She added nervously. He noticed her ringing her fingers again.

"I'm fine, I promise." He assured, taking her hand. "I wanted to apologize for earlier. Not only for the intrusion on Yubaba's behalf, but also for..my lack of self control. I think it would be better for both of us if we took things a bit more slowly, wouldn't you agree?"

Chihiro was burning from embarrassment. If it was anyones fault that they had moved so quickly, it was her own.

"Your right." She admitted meekly, "Slow is best."

"I'm glad you think so. With that being said, would you like to have dinner with me tonight? You know, a proper date? I feel as though I have known you my entire life but in truth I know very little about you."

As usual his response was perfection, and as usual hers was a disaster.

"A date, like go out, on a date and..But you mean leave the bath house or..?"

Haku smiled at her verbal dysfunction. It happened every time she felt nervous. "Yes. I think it might be fun."

"But I don't have clothes for a date?" She added in defeat.

Lin had been eavesdropping in the hall, and came zipping into the room to snatch Chihiro by the arm.

"Bout time you two figured it out! Sen, I know where we can get you something nice to wear, but only if you stop wasting company time and help me with the Radish spirit. He's stuck in a Sulfur soak and might literally be dissolving as we speak, so chop chop."

"What time, Haku?" Chihiro called frantically as Lin drug her down the hall.

"A little after Midnight." He called back.

"But thats still during work?"

"Consider yourself relieved." He added with a smile as she disappeared around the corner.

He flew up onto the floor above and watched her for a while. In truth his invitation held more than one intention. He certainly wanted to spend more time with Chihiro, and hopefully during their time together he would find a way to explain to her the situation of her stay. For now, she would be safe with Lin, which left him only three short hours to catch a tongue thief.

….

Chihiro sat cross-legged on the floor in her new dress while Lin brushed her hair down her back. It had grown out to her waist and was hard to maintain on her own, especially since she'd lost her ponytail during the attack.

"It's beautiful, where did you find it?" Chihiro mused as she ran her fingers over the deep green wrap dress that clung delicately to her skin.

"I've got a friend who sews for a hobby and makes all the girls clothes. I'm glad it fits you, your down right puny you know."

It was a long sleeve wrap dress, simple and beautiful.. Lin had brushed and sculpted her hair into big billowing waves. Chihiro hardly recognized herself when she saw her own reflection.

"Wow, Sen..you look..."

"Sen is That You!" Sai and a few other girls cried as they came in the room. "I can't believe it!"

"You look so Nice!"

"You don't even look like you!"

Chihiro rolled her eyes at the backhanded compliment as Lin just gave a wink.

She was carrying her flats, nervously rubbing her thumb into the fabric. She hurried toward the closest garden exit in a rush to escape the uncomfortable pressure of strange gazes. She stepped out into the dead of night and sighed in relief.

There was a sweet melody lofting in the air. A guitar was being strummed by a masters fingers, and she recognized the tune. She looked curiously around the low lit garden and spotted the man.

It was him again. That mysterious water spirit that had found her pack.

She approached him, transfixed by the lovely sound of her favorite song.

"You stole this from my mix tape." Chihiro said with a sly grin.

He smiled back. "You got me." He admitted, still strumming away, his one eye glittering between the inflictions of each note.

"It's a beautiful song. I had heard it once before but hearing it again.." He said with a sultry tone, closing his eye and swaying a bit as his hand crafted the piece to perfection. It was a slow and tender Bachata, desire effervescent in each note and breath. The lyrics were just as wrenching, and she knew them very well. She watched his strumming hand pluck out the delicate tones and noticed something she hadn't before. The pinkie and ring finger of his strumming hand were missing.

"You play it beautifully." Chihiro said with longing in her heart. It took all her power to keep from singing along.

"The only thing more beautiful is you in that dress." He said so smoothly that it actually took her an instant to recognize what he had said. When she did however, the blush on her cheeks gave her away in an instant.

"Thank you," she peeped shyly. "I have a date."

"What a lucky man." He mused, never ceasing his lovely music.

"You forgot to tell me your name earlier?"

Haku finally found her, standing in the garden looking far too lovely, the sound of sweet music pouring mysteriously through the air. When he rounded the corner he spotted the source of it.

A man was sitting in a chair strumming a guitar, starring up at her with a look that enraged him. Chihiro spotted Haku and smiled sweetly with a polite bow which he returned.

"You look lovely Chihiro...It's no surprise that I'm not the only one who noticed." Haku added, addressing the man, trying to sound pleasant. The man smiled up at him with a dogs grin.

"I was just about to introduce myself," He said, slinging his guitar over his back, and standing to give a curt nod.

"My names Jin. I hope the two of you have a spectacular evening."

His manner held a jovial sort of sarcasm that sat oddly in the air as he disappeared into the bath house.

Haku was nearly certain that this was the man he'd been searching for.

He smiled warmly at Chihiro, though his mind was racing after the man. Her beauty and obliviousness were tugging at his heart. Looking the way she did in that dress, hair about her face like a waterfall of chestnut, there was just no way he could postpone. He couldn't believe his lack of sense and reason, but His suspicions would have to wait.

"Ready?" He asked with a beaming grin.

….

Chihiro had never drank before but she wasn't about to admit it. The observational gap between the two of them was wide enough as it were, so she sipped her wine nonchalantly.

Haku looked aristocratic sitting across from her at the small round table, at the bow of a colorful leisure liner. His long Navy hair was brushed neatly into a low braid at the nape of his neck, and his pristinely white tunic looked so clean that it seemed to glow against the dim night air in a phosphorescent sort of way. They sat together, aglow in the sanguine lantern light. Their waiter, silent as a ghost, and equally as translucent, brought them food and drink.

She couldn't help but wonder if he even knew how handsome he was. She wanted to tell him so badly but her throat was dry and shaky from nerves.

"Alright, now tell me what you like to do for fun. It can't be changing bed sheets and scrubbing floors." Haku teased gently coaxing her from her shell. She took a big sip of wine.

"Well.." she began nervously. "I really like to hike. Theres a lot of really nice wilderness around this spot when its not all under water." Haku smiled, waiting for her to go on. Chihiro wracked her brain hoping that he wouldn't realize that her life beyond this place was far from interesting. It was a day to day kind of existence. No real plans, no real future.

"I like to sing.." She said with a blush.

"Really?" Haku inquired pleasantly. "I would love to hear you sing."

"Maybe, if your lucky." she teased.. A warm tingle in her belly was making her smile come forth. Her words were flowing a bit more effortlessly than before. Chihiro took another sip of wine.

"In school I went to regionals for baton twirling." Chihiro offered with a giggle.

"Whats a baton?" Haku mused.

"Its like a rod, that you twirl around while doing a floor routine. And then judges grade you on your style and precision."

Haku sat entirely perplexed. "Really?! You..I mean.." He stammered trying to find a description that wouldn't be offensive.

Chihiro smiled, "It's okay. I know I'm a klutz. But for some reason, when the pressures on, this part of me just shoves that clumsiness aside. Now I've got a question for you." Chihiro began with a raised brow. "Please explain to me how I got here."

Haku chuckled. "Thats a hard one." he began, finishing his second glass before she was done with her first. He didn't seem to be at all changed by it. Perhaps a bit more casual.

"Imagine that this universe is flat, like a page in a storybook." He began, a mysticism to his voice, "Each page is a different plane, a different universe. And were all stacked on top of one another, all small pieces to the same whole. There are weak points in these pages, no one knows why or how, but when you find one you can leap from one to another, and that clock tower over there," he said gesturing to the little town a glow around the islanded train station she knew very well. "That's one of them. But the part that can't be explained is why one moment its there and the next its gone. Theres no rhyme or reason to it. No celestial alignment or mathematical equation..They used to be permanently sealed but for the past 200 years or so they've been changing all the time.."

"What do you think the reason is?" Chihiro asked him, tilting her head curiously. Haku shrugged.

"I honestly haven't the slightest clue..but it brought you to me, so I have no complaints.."

Moments passed to quickly in his company. The bow of the liner was hazy and warm, though the sea breeze was soft and crisp. The lanterns swung loftily about, giving over orange and red fuzzy shadows that may have been spirits themselves.

"How many water spirits are there?" Chihiro asked him, as the waiter left their table having just refilled their glasses.

"Less than you'd imagine, and even fewer being created. Most water runs together, somewhere along the line. The keeper of a river might also be the keeper of an ocean." Haku's voice was chipper and mirthful. "I'm young..very young in comparison to the Elders. They're what you might refer to as Fathers and Mothers. Water Spirits are integral to existence, without water, there is no life..However, many of the universal planes have abused the Elemental spirits, making it difficult to birth new guardians. If I'm not mistaken, I may be the youngest Water spirit in existence."

"But.." Chihiro began, a twinge of uncertainty in her voice. "But how is a water spirit born..?"

Without skipping a beat he replied, "Our reproduction is sexual, but not in the way that your kind would be familiar. Unlike mammals and other living creatures, our existence does not begin within a womb. Our kind does not bear kin in such a fascinating way as yours. When an Elemental spirit forges its bond, the planet heeds to its choice, and shifts to allow for the wind to gust, or the land to quake, or the water to flow, to carve against the flesh of the earth and bring life to new formations...It's all rather complicated. We don't know that were being created. We don't know what lesser organism our soul is being taken from. We never know the rivers or winds that brought us to be, and seldom do the spirits know their children."

The surplus of information was rather overwhelming to her, but the first question to surface was,

"So..wait. How does the earth give way for a water spirit to...you know..?"

Haku smiled gingerly at her curiosity. "The moon pulls close to the earth, bending the gravitational pull, sewing the water over the land, casting the moon in a shadow to signify that the merge was recognized. It is quite sacred among all spirits here, especially water spirits. However, you'll find that eclipses do not occur here for centuries at a time."

"Really? They happen every year where I'm from?." Chihiro added in surprise.

"What a sight that must be," He mused. "I myself have never witnessed one. Not since my creation, but I was of a rather unenlightened state at that point..You know, Chihiro..It may be strange to hear this, But, losing my river, However shameful it may have been; It's become a blessing to me. I was freed from my charge, the responsibility of keeping the land around me well. Your people robbed me of that. But...I was given something else quite unexpectedly. I was given you. If I hadn't wandered to the bath house in search of a way to renew my failure as a river guardian, that little girl that fell in my waters would have been the only Chihiro I knew. But here you are again, against all fathomable odds...More beautiful to me than any river the elders could ever weave.."

Chihiro felt a chill down her spine that set her hair on end. Haku heard the rhythm thunder away within her chest, and smiled.

"You heart rate accelerates often in my presence," He mused.

Chihiro smiled timidly, "I wish you didn't hear so well.."

..

They finished their meal as the ship headed ashore. They docked and both realized how much they'd had to drink upon adjusting to the solid earth.

"We better head up to bed before the sun comes up. I don't think you've had a full rest in days." Haku said with a happy grin as he took her by the hand to steady one another.

"Can I tell you somethings?" Chihiro said a bit loopy from the wine and sleep deprivation.

"Of course."

Chihiro began to giggle softly, bringing her freehand to her lips in a coy sort of way.

"I'vent drank before.." She whispered as another plea of giggles escaped her.

"Can I tell you something?" Haku said, pulling her to his chest to whisper playfully in her ear. "I can tell."

They both chuckled all the way up to his room, Chihiro stumbling on a few steps and he having to catch her. He pulled her through his bedroom door and walked her to the doorway of his adjacent room.

He stood in its frame, taking a last moment to admire her easy smile.

"This was a wonderful first date. I hope we have another one soon."

"I hope so, too." Chihiro said, beaming so brightly that her eyes began to sparkle. It caught Haku off guard, but he had promised himself he would take it slow. He smiled right back and kissed her softly on the forehead.

"Goodnight, Chihiro." He said with a contented sigh.

"Goodnight Haku." Chihiro nearly whispered as she struggled to close the door. I'll see him in the morning she thought reassuringly.

...

Upon closing the door, and standing awestruck in his make shift bedroom, Haku cursed. He'd completely forgotten to tell her everything he'd intended to. The ambrosial heir to the evening had swept him up in their pleasant chatter, and whipped his mind clear of all the possible danger at hand.

This human certainly had quite the effect on his own enlightened state of mind, slowly reverting him back to a simpler being. How was she doing it?

" _Tomorrow. I will tell her tomorrow_." He scorned himself, hating the way his personal demand was beginning to sound so familiar.


	5. Chapter 5

Chihiro, in fact, did not see Haku that morning. She even woke before sunset and knocked on his door. When there was no response she peeked inside to find his bedroll empty, looking entirely untouched.

She shrugged it off and threw her work clothes in a bag and headed down to the employee showers. The other girls made no attempts to hide their feelings about her not staying in the workers quarters anymore. Her friends would tease her about it, but the others weren't as gentle with their judgments.

Chihiro hated the long shower stalls and the open gym like nature of the locker room. She usually made it a point to scamper into the farthest stall and shower just long enough to rinse out her hair. No one else was uncomfortable to be nude in full view, but Chihiro just wasn't there yet.

Lin called out to her and headed her way wearing nothing but a sly smirk and a towel on her head.

"So how did the date go, Sen? Tell me all the grimy details." She demanded leaning on the stall wall bearing it all so shamelessly.

Chihiro kept her eyes on the floor, failing to casually cover herself with soap bubbles as she stood beneath the hot water. Chihiro turned her back to her and began to stammer a response when Lin Gasped

"Holy Shit, Sen! What Is That?!"

"What?!" She cried in shock. A few other's noticed Lin's surprise and came over too.

"Whoa Sen, thats beautiful what is it!" Sai asked.

It took a moment to realize what they were talking about. The fact that she was currently being crowded by naked prying women was a bit distracting.

"Oh..my tattoo. It's a Jackelope..." Chihiro said shyly still trying to cover herself yet realizing it was useless.

"A tattoo?" Lin asked quizzically.

"Yeah you don't have them here?" Chihiro mused a bit while she turned for the others to see.

"How do you get it..? I want one!" Sai cried excitedly.

"Oh, well they take a needle and ink and stab it into your skin so it stays there forever..essentially.."

"Wow Sen, that's bad ass! This tattoo is huge too, how long did it take?"

"I don't know..like three two hour sessions..?"

"Three days'!" one of the girls cried.

"Well.." Chihiro began to interject but the ruckus of the girls excitement grew too loud.

She had designed the tattoo herself. The head and shoulders of a Jackelope mounted on a rough piece of bark, its antlers sloping up over her shoulders, the tufts of its furry chest pointing down to her mid back. It was shaded in rich pale browns all the way to honey red, a masterpiece she was proud of, she'd tipped the artist extra for her fine work. Chihiro couldn't believe tattoos didn't exist in this realm. The concept was so base and primal.

"What does Haku think about it?!" Sai chimed eagerly.

"..he hasn't..seen it?" Chihiro said a bit awkwardly as she wrapped a towel around herself.

Chihiro dressed and headed out to floor duty. When she stopped off at the supply closet with the rest of her shift mates they noticed a big scroll posted to the bulletin with URGENT scribed in bold at the top.

 _The Summer Solstice festival_

 _will be hosted in just two short months_

 _and unfortunately the hired female vocal_

 _entertainment has been terminated._

 _Searching for **unoffensive** substitute_

 _see the foreman for details_

"That's weird..hey Lin, whats a summer solstice?" Chihiro piped curiously.

"Really..?" Lin crooned in disbelief as she rolled her eyes. "It's only the biggest and most relevant spiritual festival in existence. Every single island out here's going to be brimming by the square inch with spirits from the highest to the lowest walks of life. Yubaba caters out the Third floor grand ball room the the richest and highest ranking spirits and hosts a snazzy party..looks like she didn't like the female vocalist she hired?"

"huh.." Chihiro muttered as she knelt down with her rag and began her runs across the floor. She was proud to say she had no trouble keeping up anymore.

….

"Don't be ridiculous, Haku." Yubaba sighed with annoyance. "He's just a talented performer here for the festival. I hired him myself..the female vocalist I hired was garbage in comparison so I'll need to find another one.." She grumbled pinching the bridge of her nose. "I'm so desperate I've left notices outside the locker rooms."

"And just what kind of Elemental Spirit is he supposed to be?" Haku hissed in frustration.

"Don't get me started on misleading appearances Mr. Wolf in sheep's clothing. We both know what you look like beneath that skin. He is an Elemental Spirit, just like you, don't you recognize your own kind! For all you know, the two of you have something in common. Perhaps he lost his river as well. Now I need you to drop it. Whoever cut the sorry tongue from that scum is long gone. They got what they came for and went just as quickly. Now, I have a mountain of planning to do before the week is out so why don't you see yourself out of my office." Yubaba hissed as she brushed her hand in his direction sending him flying out into the hall.

Anger boiled hot within him as he stomped down the corridor, balled fists swinging at his sides. There was no way that man was a guardian spirit, but how could he prove it? Haku was certain that the man called Jin had collected the humans tongue, and now he had granted himself the perfect alias to stay within the walls of the bath house, as a prestigious guest no less. The severity of the situation had stolen Haku's sleep. He made his way to the foyer to check on Chihiro.

"Master Haku, Forgive my forwardness but.."

the foreman, Raja began timidly, "I overheard the girls gossiping about Chihiro's spine art Tattoo, and well..I'm afraid that if I ask her to see it myself she might not take it the right way. I've just never heard of such a thing...I mean to stab your flesh with needles..!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Haku spat, too tired to handle such a confusing concept.

"A tattoo? Whats a tattoo? And what do you mean stabbing!?" Haku glanced frantically back to Chihiro. She seemed fine to him, in fact she seemed quite happy. A faint little grin painted her pretty lips, her hair was up in a messy bun, and she laughed happily with Lin after winning a round of rock paper scissors to see who would pay for breakfast.

"Forgive me sir, I was just curious." The frog went on as he scampered away.

Haku was also admittedly curious. He wanted so badly to approach her and figure out what Raja had been talking about, but he had things to tend to. Haku would find a way to catch Jin red handed.. He would do everything he could to prove that he was guilty, and safely remove him from the bath house before he could get any closer to Chihiro.

...

The end of the workday was drawing closer and Chihiro couldn't get that notice out of her head. She wondered what kind of a talent that Yubaba was searching for. After it had been consuming her mind all that day she decided she would be doing herself an injustice if she didn't inquire. She nervously approached the foreman.

"Excuse me, sir. I was just wondering about the flier..for a female vocalist..?"

"Sen?!" The frog man baffled as he looked down at her from his pedestal with a chuckle. "I suppose I can tell you where tryouts are held...but.."

Chihiro glanced at him in confusion. "What is it..?"

"Well...Could I see your taytoo?"

Chihiro sighed heavily. She'd been hearing that question a lot that night.

"Fine.." she grumbled as she turned around and lifted her shirt. She was thankful that the apron beneath her clothes had a low back and high neckline.

"Wow...its true..an entire portrait beneath the skin.." The frog man awed.

"Alright so where is it!" Chihiro hissed feeling a bit exposed.

"Second floor ballroom, Yubaba is there with the other musician, but..don't be surprised if she doesn't hire a human.!" He called after her as she stormed over to the elevator.

Chihiro's nerves started buzzing in the same manner that they had when she was about to perform a solo in choir. She stifled it as best she could, that was until she appeared in the archway to the ballroom and spotted Yubaba, Haku and Kyro, Yubaba's new assistant, Sat behind a make shift desk listening to one of her fellow employees sing a lovely song in a language Chihiro didn't recognize.

The song was quite beautiful and certainly intimidating, not to mention Haku being there, which inspired her to attempt to slink away, but the woman finished too soon and Kyro caught sight of her and ushered her forward.

Chihiro froze solid when all eyes turned to her. By some miracle her feet moved her slowly into the room where the other girl had stood. Haku gave her a nearly invisible grin, and though it was secretive it made Chihiro feel like she might faint.

"Sen, what a surprise." Yubaba chortled in amusement. "Certainly we can't have a human girl host the entertainment for a grouping of ancient spirits, but! You've perked my interest all the same."

It was then that Chihiro noticed Jin sitting in a chair behind Yubaba, smirking devilishly with his guitar in his lap. Chihiro couldn't swallow.

"I think I.." she began.

"Nonsense! No backing out now. Go on then." Yubaba said in a finalizing tone as she made herself comfortable in her chair. "We don't have all day."

Chihiro's heartbeat filled her ears and she was sure they could all hear it. Her hands began to tremble so she shook them out in front of her.

 _"Your all alone. No one else is here. Just do it._.." She told herself sternly. She closed her eyes but couldn't begin, when suddenly a soft and mournful melody rang out through the ballroom. Jin had begun to play the song she was about to sing. It shocked her so, but it saved her too. Yubaba and Haku glanced over to him in surprise until Chihiro captured their attention,

 _Sway me to the beauty, of a burning violin_

 _Sway me through the panic, 'til I'm gathered safely in_

 _Lift me like an olive branch, be my homeward dove_

 _And dance me, to the end of love_

Yubaba, Haku and Kyro were more than just a little surprised.

 _Let me see your beauty when the witnesses are gone_

 _Let me feel you moving like they do in Babylon_

Jin stood and began to sing along in perfect harmony, their voices melding together in haunting precision that made both Chihiro and Haku rather uncomfortable. Jin didn't seem to mind it one bit as he circled her with his guitar.

 _Show me slowly what I only know the limits of_

 _And dance me to the end of love_

 _Please Dance me to the end of love_

Chihiro was starring in baffled awe at Jin who grinned right back. She had forgotten where she was and who was watching. This puzzling and mysterious spirit had caught her entirely off guard. She scrutinized him in disbelief, but was yanked back to reality by Yubaba's joyful cries.

"Exceptions will be made Chihiro! Your perfect together! Spectacular! We will disguise you as a spirit and you will play the festival!"

Haku was concussed by the blow of what had just happened. Chihiro's voice was so much more lovely than he had imagined, and now she would be paired with the one man who wished to cut it from her throat. The way he smiled at her like she was some kind of pray... But what would he do now? How could he influence her not to perform without offending her? Or more importantly why did he care! It was her life at stake was it not? Haku sat helplessly with his arms crossed and jaw clenched as he starred them down.

Jin shook her hand, "It will be an absolute pleasure to perform with you, Chihiro."

 _"I'm sure it will be."_ Haku fumed internally. He would have to keep an even closer eye on her from now on. Nothing would come before keeping her safe.

Yubaba noticed Haku glaring daggers at Jin and chuckled.

"So that's why your so quick to judge him. Your jealous of him."

Haku growled and crossed his arms a bit tighter. He felt the sudden urge to hit something.

Chihiro approached Haku after speaking to Yubaba. She felt so thankful to be singing again. She'd never dreamed of having an opportunity like this one. However, The dark circles and pale flesh of Haku's face silenced her joy.

"Haku, are you alright? Did you sleep last night?" Chihiro fretted, fussing nervously with her fingers. He smiled at her, ignoring the question.

"Your voice is beautiful, Chihiro." He said softly, but looking like he might pass out. Haku wasn't so sure how much longer he could stay standing, but he had to. He had to keep her away from him.

"Thanks Haku, but..I think your getting sick? Are you feeling alright?" She reiterated.

"I'm fine, just a little tired."

"Well, are you hungry? I'm starving. Maybe we can bring our food back to your room so you can rest?"

Haku thought that idea sounded heavenly but could only muster a smile and a nod. They grabbed some food from the kitchen and rode the elevator up to his room.

….

"Chihiro," Haku began, as he glanced up from his dinner as she slurped a noodle playfully. "Please..be careful of Jin.."

Chihiro looked at him innocently. "What do you mean?"

"He's a stranger..and he gives me a bad feeling. Just please tell me you'll be cautious around him."

Chihiro nodded, a bit confused. "Sure." she said with a gentle smile as Haku rested his head on his knee.

"Hey, Chihiro..?" he asked softly, a bit of confusion in his tired eyes.

"Yeah?"

"What's a tattoo..?"

Chihiro giggled and sat up straight and began to pull up her shirt. Haku was suddenly very much awake. She turned her slender back to him and his jaw dropped. He reached out a hand and glanced at her eyes.

"Yeah you can touch it." She laughed softly. "Its a Jackelope.."

"A what?"

"A Jackelope. Its a mythical creature in my world. They're supposed to be good luck."

Haku smiled running his hand over the beautiful detail along the rabbits jagged antlers. So much time had gone into this work of art. It looked as if at any moment the creature might actually blink.

 _Good luck, huh?_ He thought to himself, enjoying the way her skin felt beneath his fingertips.

._._._._._._._._._._._.

My first authors note! I don't do these often but thank you for reading this far. I find that the story is slow up until this following chapter so thanks for reading through the drolling info chapters.!

Also, Thank you Leonard Cohen for your lyrical masterworks

RIP

and also, thank you The Civil Wars for your amazing cover of Leonard Cohen's song, Dance me to the End of Love, that was the inspiration for the Jin/Chihiro scene :p

Its amazing. Check it out!

Thank you so much readers!

Comments/suggestions/criticisms

are always welcome and appreciated!

Until next time!

Oh and don't worry. This isn't all fluffy romance

Shizz bout ta get reall


	6. Chapter 6

"Our first practice begins now." Jin said chipperly, handing Chihiro a stack of music sheets. She studied them and gasped.

"But wait, I don't know this language!"

"Don't worry about it, that's what I'm here for. Music has a way of masking accents so it shouldn't be too hard." He added, sounding casual and undeterred.

Yubaba had given them one of the empty third floor massage parlors to practice in, and Jin had perched himself on the edge of a table with his guitar, and a cigarette.

"This first one's called Ghir Enta." He mused, pinching a cigarette between his lips while twisting his tuning pegs, squinting at her through a haze of his own smoke. "It's a classic, so lets not butcher it at the festival." He teased. Chihiro didn't think it was very funny. She hadn't realized how much of a challenge she'd immersed herself into, and with so little time to practice. Two months wasn't very long to learn a new language.

"Come sit with me so we can read through it once together."

Chihiro hopped up onto the table beside him and he set down his guitar and took her sheet music in his hands.

"Pense 'a moi Mon bien aim'e. Mon coeur t' a choisi Et je ne sais plu commente faire.." He said slowly and deliberately with an infliction of romance.

"It's beautiful.." Chihiro sighed, feeling both inspired and intimidated. "What does it mean?"

Jin smiled down at her and casually leaned his arm behind them as he translated.

"Think of me, You who I love. My heart chose you, and I know not what to do. Today your here, but tomorrow who knows, that's how this world is, bitter and sweet both at the same time."

Chihiro was a bit speechless.

"Exactly." Jin remarked, pulling his eyes back to the sheet music, "And thats why this piece should be perfection. Lets begin shall we..?"

They sang through it together. Chihiro found it easier to remember the lyrics when they weren't in front of her. Hearing it made more sense than reading it. It was a beautiful song, a timeless song of love and longing.

..

Haku had been watching them from the rafters a few floors above.

He _hated_ Jin.

He himself wanted to rip the tongue from the liars throat. The bastard had come so close to Chihiro that he'd nearly dove down upon them in a rage.

Haku was beside himself on what to do. Was it jealousy he was feeling? Every time that snake looked at her with that sickening smile he wanted to _kill_ him. But was she in danger? Was he the one collecting body parts or was he really just some hired musician with a pompous attitude.? Haku's emotions were beginning to skew his sense of logic. Either way he wouldn't risk being wrong, no matter how wretched he felt for spying.

..

"That was perfect.!" Jin chirped delightedly, as he admired the little human. Chihiro was having so much fun that she'd hardly noticed how late it was getting. People were cleaning up and getting dinner before dawn, and Chihiro and Jin hadn't even stopped for a bathroom break.

Jin stood and stretched, slinging his guitar over his shoulder.

"Well Chihiro, I think we better call it quits for the night don't you? Wouldn't want your boyfriend thinking I stole you away." He added offhandedly with a smirk. Chihiro blushed uncomfortably.

"See you tomorrow." She said with a curt bow. She went running down the hall to get to the kitchens before it closed, but when she rounded the corner a frog was pulling down the serving window lock.

"Wait!" Chihiro cried, but the frog smirked and slammed it shut as quickly as he could.

"Hey, come on! Thats just mean!" She cried, glaring up at the chortling silhouette through the shade.

"Darn it.." She sighed, lumbering defeated up the stairs. The exhaustion in her chest caused her to wonder how she'd pull this off. Tomorrow her practice with Jin would only be in the mornings, and the rest of the day would be her regular work schedule, and so it would resume until the festival. She made it to Haku's room, where a new inquisition struck her.

Where _was_ he? Chihiro hadn't seen him even once, all that day. She'd gotten used to him finding her after work to spend time together.

Chihiro knocked on his door but there was no answer, and the light was off.

"How strange.." She sighed, a lonely sort of feeling nestling into her heart. She changed and crawled into bed wracking her brain, wondering where he might be.

..

Haku had watched her climb the stairs alone, and then disappear into his room. He wanted to go with her, but there was an anger inside of him, and an ocean of new and confusing feelings that needed sorting through. Feelings she didn't need to see. Not until he understood them himself.

He sat in the corridor outside his room, starring out the big glass window at the end of the hall. The sun was rising and a yellow haze tumbled through it, coloring the pristine marbled flooring in odd shapes and colors. He sat a long while thinking of her, and what would be best, until exhaustion drew him to his bedroll. He crept carefully inside and stopped to look at her sleeping.

He didn't want to say goodbye to her. Not the first time, and certainly not now, but he was beginning to wonder if that was the only way to keep her safe. After all, this world wasn't made for humans. So many dangers resided inside this realm she'd stumbled upon, much worse than any one bad man in the woods.

Yubaba would find another performer, or have none. That was the very least of concerns at hand.

All that mattered was that she stay safe, whether it caused her to hate him, or not..

...

Chihiro woke before twilight to a covered plate and a small note.

 _You missed the kitchens last night._

 _Hope its still warm -Haku_

Chihiro smiled and ate while she dressed. _Guess he was just busy lately._ She hoped they'd get the chance to talk again soon, maybe even go on another date.

To her joyous surprise Haku was waiting near the elevator landing for her.

"Hey!" she chimed happily, "Thanks for breakfast."

He nodded, "Chihiro, would you walk with me.?"

Chihiro was a bit confused by the serious tone to his voice, his eyes were distant as well.

"Sure.."

..

Haku took her back to the bluff full of birch and wax trees. He didn't hold her hand this time, in fact his cold aura was beginning to worry her.

"Chihiro.." He finally broke the silence as he turned to face her. "When you returned I was so happy to see you. So happy in fact that it caused me to over look a painful truth.. You are most important to me above all other things..and that is why I need you to go home."

Chihiro froze in place, in complete and utter shock.

"But..this, is my home..?" She stammered, a lump rising in her throat.

Haku shook his head as if to discredit her claim.

"You're in danger, Chihiro. I'm afraid that I've kept something from you.." He began somberly, his eyes holding hers, brimming with severity. "It's about the man, the one who followed you here. Someone broke into his cellar and...cut out his tongue." Haku could find no way around it. She needed to know the truth.

Chihiro began to fidget as tears threatened to escape. Her thumbs went on nervously strumming the sides of her index fingers once more, and Haku could hear her heart as it beat so hard that it was practically rattling her chest plate.

". _why_..?" she whispered.

"Because this world wasn't meant for humans. Your kind..doesn't belong here.."

"You mean, someone did that _because_ he was human?" Chihiro whimpered in disbelief.

"I'm afraid that... Someone did that.." He paused as her eyes searched his. He shouldn't tell her the truth. It would terrify her. But she needed to know, she needed to go back to her world..

"Someone did that, because here, the human body is a rare ingredient for certain tonics and potions. I fear that whoever collected that man, may also be looking for you."

Chihiro had no words. In this world she really was just a hunk of coal, or a slice of meat.. Yubaba had been right all those years ago. But returning home couldn't be the only answer. Chihiro found herself wedged between worlds, one a world of danger, and the other full of pain. How was she to chose? Or did she even have a choice? It didn't seem that way looking in his eyes now.

"No." she said coldly. "No! You can't ask me to do that!" She shouted, a sudden fire of rage inside her.

Haku's eyes went wide in surprise. He'd expected a lot of reactions from her but not such an unmindful anger as this.

"Chihiro, It isn't safe for you to stay! I Cannot Always be there to Protect You!" He shouted, trying to reason with her. "You need to go back to where you **_belong_!"**

"If you're so worried about me getting hurt Here, Where were you when that man tried to..?!" She growled, unable to say it aloud as tears fell heavy down her face.

The way she'd said it stung at his heart terribly.

"That man came from my world, Haku! And theres a million more just like him. You think your world is dangerous, well so is mine, the only difference is, back there I really am alone! Here I at least have friends, I have you..or at least I thought I did.."

"Chihiro, I know that it's hard to understand but it's different here, it's much worse than this place lets on. Your kind is like an invasive species to this realm. You'll be chewed up and spat out before you even flinch, and I'll be damned if I see that happen to you! You need to go back!"

Chihiro glared through tears at his stone cold eyes. She shook her head in disbelief as she turned on her heel and took off to the bath house.

"Chihiro!" Haku called out to her, but she never looked back.

...

Things were starting to fall into place. Why most of the staff treated her so poorly. Her kind were like pests to these people. Germs to be destroyed.

Haku's disliking for Jin began to make more sense. He was the only likely known culprit within the bath house walls, and he'd wriggled his way in close to his next victim. But, Chihiro wasn't afraid. She'd rather die here than be sent back to a world full of loneliness that she already knew too well.

Chihiro slid open the door to their make shift studio to find Jin paging through sheet music.

"Wow, what's that look for?" He asked, eying her curiously.

"I know why your here.." Chihiro whispered, rage and frustration clouding her judgment. "I know what you've done.."

"What are you talking about?" Jin inquired, standing up while wearing an amused grin.

"You cut out that humans tongue...and now your here for mine.."

Jin's smile deepened, seeming thrilled that she'd figured it out so quickly. He shook his head with a chuckle,

"No, though I'll admit finding another human was rather surprising...you can keep your tongue.."

Chihiro froze in place as an ice cold wave of recognition settled into her veins.

"why..?" She whispered, her voice suddenly fading into a hoarse squeak as the reality of his wicked deeds set in.

She was standing before a murderer..

"Because that man didn't deserve a tongue. He didn't deserve to hang their in shackles the way your boyfriend had him either. He deserved to die, painfully. And who am I to pass up an opportunity to make a morally justified buck or two.?"

Chihiro was speechless. The suave man he had been was morphing into something audacious, and the man before her now was beginning to weaken her knees.

"Your not a water spirit are you..?"she whimpered, fidgeting with her hands again as he stepped closer to her.

"No, you got me there. See, you and I have more in common than you could ever imagine." He offered smoothly, his statement saturated with intimation. A small flame igniting the tip of his finger in a plume of magic as he lit up a cigarette.

"You're.. a _human_..?" She gasped as the word nearly caught in her throat.

"Yup!" He said with a light hearted trill. "Just like you."

"Then why...how did you..?"

"You're afraid aren't you Chihiro, and you have every right to be. This place was not designed for us. Quite the contrary in fact. You see how they treat humans in this world, like were lesser beings. Little infants incapable of doing anything that they consider to be outside of our ability. They categorize us as spiritual dead ends.."

"I'm more afraid of the world back home..and besides, Haku doesn't treat me badly...I have friends here.." Chihiro whispered, methodically, yet unsure of the truth behind her own words.

"Yes, well those are the only ones you'll have, believe me. You should see what they do to humans in Pron."

"But if your a human..how do you do that-that magic?"

Jin smiled at her holding out his hand. "Come with me, and I'll show you."

Chihiro starred between his wolfish eye and his out stretched hand. Surely this was a trap. Yet something deep in her gut told her differently.

"You can trust me." Jin purred, a big flashy grin over pearly, hypodermic fangs.


	7. Chapter 7

Haku was tearing through the halls like a chaotic whirlwind. He needed to explain it again, to convince her to leave, perhaps more gently, or maybe just toss her through the station gate himself! It didn't matter anymore! It wasn't a matter of her liking it, it was a matter of keeping her alive.

He ripped the door from the wall to their little make shift practice room with a menacing roar, and to his horror he found it empty.

" _ **Damn It!**_ " He growled so loudly that the whole island might hear. His worst fears had begun to take form.

He tore out into the hall, a driving force of desperate rage. He would not rest until he found her, safe and sound. He began to immediately regret his manner in which he'd suggested her go. It had pushed her from him, and right into the arms of danger.

If Jin hurt her..Haku couldn't think of it..

He flew through nearby markets where shady dealings were common, but found no trace of her. He'd went from island to island in search of any word that she had passed through, but Haku found nothing. Not a single trail to follow.

He had broken down into tears as he flew, the possibility of her being stolen for parts becoming more and more likely with every passing second.

..

Jin lead her down the stairs and over the bridge, right to the waters edge. He knelt down on one knee.

"Get on my back."

"What!?"

The man didn't wait for an answer, and threw her over his shoulder as they took off like a beam of light through space. He'd run so far so fast that Chihiro felt the blood press to the back of her skull.

When the world emerged from the blur of light she found herself on a small island surrounded by nothing but cellophane waters. Her stomach clenched tight, realizing that she was entirely at his mercy, but she'd already made up her mind to trust him, and it was much too late for regret.

"There, now that pesky dragon of yours wont find us."

Chihiro's heart stopped dead beneath the weight of her mistake.

"Where are we..?" she cried helplessly, tears brimming in her eyes.

"Far enough." He exclaimed with a sigh. Jin glanced at her and noticed the distress on her face. "Don't worry. I'm bringing you back. We've got a show to put on soon, remember?"

Chihiro tried to pull herself together, never taking her eyes off of him in fear that he might turn on her.

"Alright, here we are..now show me what you promised.." she said, trying to sound brave. Jin smiled and held out the hand that still had all five digits. He stretched his fingers and furrowed his brow and an orb of light appeared in his palm.

"Listen carefully, Chihiro, because it is important that you understand correctly what others will tell you is false. This is not magic.." Chihiro stared in complete amazement, her mouth a bit slack. She could feel the heat from his hand radiate over her skin.

"Like all things in this life and the next, all that exists within is energy. Learn how it works and you can control it. Abuse it, and it will destroy you."

"Destroy you..?" Chihiro asked distantly, too wrapped up in the beautiful flames that poured from his palm. The colors seemed to shift as it danced like rainbow metal in sunlight.

"Use it too often and it begins to eat away at your own energy.."

"What do you mean?" She asked, reaching up a hand to touch the flames. As she did, he closed his palm then let it bloom once more, but this time ice crystals grew from his finger tips, sparkling like diamond shards, a cold air swirling around them, brushing her cheeks and sending goosebumps down her arms.

"Its a common belief, here, that humans among other _"unenlightened creatures"_ are incapable of wielding their own energy. If spirits were to acknowledge a humans ability to access Chakras, it would disprove their religious ranking, and their entire belief system would crumble..They also believe that if we were to do so, we would simply destroy ourselves in the process..Unfortunately, that particular observation may not be entirely wrong. Using too much of your own power certainly has its ill effects.."

Chihiro glanced at his missing eye and fingers, "Is that what happened to you?" she whispered.

Jin shook his head, "I'm afraid not."

Chihiro was to caught in the spectacle protruding from his palm to acknowledge his response, "How did you learn to do this..!?"

"Product of circumstance I'm afraid.. As I said earlier, you and I are more a like than you know.. You know what it feels like to be at the mercy of another, what it feels like to be prey.."

"Did you come through the train platform, too?"

"No. I came through another way. Far from here, when I was young. I went back and forth a lot, just being a stupid kid...until I got snatched up by a couple Dyubbuk, and ended up in the hands of a sorcerer. After a while I managed to steal his secrets, and learned that I could wield a power of my own. After years of practice inspired by his... _abuse_ , I finally killed him.. Ever since then, I've been wandering around, Learning more about this place. I collect rare ingredients to sell, a grim living sometimes, but a man's gotta eat, right?"

Chihiro was suffocating beneath so many questions that she wasn't sure where to begin.

"I'm sorry, by the way.." Jin added, his eye getting a bit soft. "about what happened to you..No one should have to feel that way. Weak and powerless..I know the feeling quite well..Thats why, I have a proposition for you. If you want to stay, if you want to survive here...I can show you how. But, it doesn't come without a cost."

Chihiro starred deep into his onyx eye as she weighed her future. Could she possibly learn to do the things he did? Did she really have that in her, or was this a sick trick of some kind that she couldn't quite make sense of.?

"What's the cost?"

He smirked, extinguishing his hand before running it through his long black hair.

"Blood, sweat and tears of course, but in addition, You can't tell a soul what I am. If word got out that a human magician was running around posing as a water spirit, hell, I'd be dead in a week. That means lying to your little boyfriend too, you know.."

Chihiro couldn't think straight. The possibilities seemed so endless all of a sudden. But could she lie to Haku? Was it fair?

"Before you decide, let me show you something." he said, a severity taking his voice. He held out his hand and she took it and off they sped through time and space until they came upon a great and flourishing city aglow in the night.

A river as big and wide as the sea, and as powerful as the most menacing wave was cascading down a cliff side, and perched precariously atop its face in the center of the hellish waters, nestled a city erected upon a grand boardwalk, that twisted and concaved in around itself in and endless maze of splendor.

Chihiro's lungs snapped shut at the sight of it. So many polygonal towers and spires, all crowded into one another. A million winding streets all intertwined like a circulatory system, just a leap away from the deathly river below.

Monsters and spirits of all kinds were carving busy paths over the maze of bridges, bobbing in and out of shops adorned in lanterns and posted signs she couldn't read.

He dove down onto the streets, and the sound of the omnipotent waters below treatened to burst her eardrums. He never let her off his shoulders, and instead seemed to hoist her a bit tighter around him.

"Don't worry, they can't see us." He said as he darted through dark wet ally ways, and crowded windy street corners until he came to a stall that would change the rest of her life forever.

There, slumped in the cold mud within rusty little cages, were children. Human children, not more than three years old. Missing fingers and ears and eyes, some their whole arms, or legs. Their spines hunched and grown crooked. Chihiro finally had an answer for Jin's missing eye and fingers.

"Help them..." Chihiro cried choking on tears as she prayed.

"And then what…?..they were practically born in those cages, Chihiro. They don't know anything else.."

"Then kill them..let them go.." she sobbed, her heart in pieces in her chest.

Jin felt her shaking, her tears wetting the nape of his neck.

"I can't..They'll see us if I do.." He whispered.

He wished she didn't have to witness such a horrible thing, but it was necessary. If she truly wished to stay, she needed to see where she was, without the cushy blanket of the bath house to shield her from the truth.

..

Jin returned them, and she remained silent as a stone until just before crossing the bridge. She turned to him and said,

"Show me everything you know, and I will take your secret to my grave."

Jin was astounded by the fire in her eyes. He gave her a nod and the promise was made. "We begin-"

"Tomorrow." she interjected with venom in her voice.

"Tomorrow." He concluded, as she walked slowly into the bustle of the bath house.

..

Haku had been searching everywhere, never slowing down, not once. He circled back toward the bathhouse to see if she had somehow returned, though he very much doubted it. He was at a loss for what to do. Perhaps Yubaba would be able to find her. He went flying into her upstairs window, eyes burning red, throat horse, completely and utterly desperate.

"Haku?! Use the door! What The Hell Is Going On Now?!"

"Please find Chihiro, I think she's been taken by a collector!"

"What?!" Yubaba baffled in surprise. "She was just in your room not an hour ago?"

"Impossible!?" Haku sped down the hall and burst into his room ready to take her in his arms, but it was empty. Nothing but a small note on the table caught his eye.

 _Thank you for letting me stay in your room, but I'm ready to move back to the girls dorms now._

 _See you around. -Chihiro_

Haku couldn't believe it. He ran to the girls dorms and caught a glimpse of her through the sliding door to the hall. She looked tired, her eyes far off and sad. How could he have missed her? There was no way she was at the bath house, it just wasn't possible, and yet, there she was.

Clearly he had failed.

She had made her decision. She would stay.

Haku slumped over his knees wanting badly to break down from stress and exhaustion, but if she were to remain, then there would be no time for that.

..

"Hey, Sen. What's up..?" Lin asked cautiously laying out her bedroll next to Chihiro's. "Let me guess, Haku's a moron and did something moronic, right?"

"No, it's just time I moved back down here. I'm tired of the other girls making comments about me behind my back." She said flatly, shifting under her blanket as the lights were turned out.

"Whatever you say, Sen." Lin sighed. "Night."

..

Chihiro couldn't get the image out of her head. The vacant stares, their lifeless postures. Stacked in cages like chickens. It tore open her heart.

How long had it been this way? Where had they come from? Had Yubaba ever done something so horrible? Had Haku? What kind of world was this?

Chihiro lay their in disbelief as her heaven darkened. Haku was right, she didn't belong here. But how could she leave now? How could she go about her days knowing that there were children being parted out like scrap metal and then do nothing about it.?

They were her kind, and it wasn't even their fault that they were here. She didn't know what she could do, but doing nothing was not an option her soul could live with.

Every time she tried to close her eyes they came back, the little limbless animals, in the dirt and mud, eyes low like broken dogs. Chihiro couldn't take it. She crept quietly from her sleep sack and slipped out into the hall. She ran for the nearest platform and sank to her knees and wept.


	8. Chapter 8

"Ones ability is as unique as a fingerprint. No two souls are created equal." Jin explained as he strummed his guitar after their practice. Chihiro hadn't even memorized a forth of the songs they'd be performing for the festival, but the new information from the night before was much more pressing.

"I just want to make sure you understand that before we go on. Don't have too great of expectations for yourself, this isn't Dragon Ball Z and were not about to save the world.."

Chihiro nodded, fiddling with her fingers, still struggling with the images from the night before.

"What do you know about Chakra?" Jin asked her absentmindedly, kicking up his feet on a chair and lighting a cigarette with his pinkie.

"What's Chakra?"

"Jesus..Great. We'll just start from square one. Before we get to the flashy stuff, there are a few things we need to do first. Don't take this the wrong way, your absolutely gorgeous, but your also a little wimpy."

"Hey!" Chihiro barked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"You know its true, I doubt you've ever worked out a day in your life. If self defense is what your after you might as well make a testament to our species and learn to do what we do best."

"And what's that..?" Chihiro peeped innocently from her chair.

Jin smirked and flashed fang, "You're gonna learn how to fight."

"But how? I'm supposed to get back to work after practice?" Chihiro blurted, realizing how late it was already getting, and how many things she still had to do.

"That's why your going to meet me at the bridge when the sun comes up."

Chihiro cringed internally at the thought of losing anymore sleep than she already had, but then their vacant little faces came back and her purpose was renewed.

"But if someone sees us wont they get suspicious?"

"Yeah, I've got that covered. Just get to work tooth pick arms, and I'll see you at dawn."

"I don't think I like your familiar tone." Chihiro sneered as she flung open the door feeling self conscious and annoyed.

...

A few of the bigger tubs had been standing water for about a week and Chihiro had her name drawn to clean one of the more rancid of the bunch. It seemed to happen a lot lately. Chihiro assumed it was probably Ryui, one of her bunk mates who enjoyed making snide comments about her 'ethnicity', and her disgusting relationship with a water spirit. In fact Ryui had had it out for Chihiro since her return, and always seemed to jump at the opportunity to insult her whenever she could.

Ryui was pretty, and thin in all the right ways. Popular among most of the social groups, but Chihiro couldn't see past her wicked nature.

"I can't believe Haku would even talk to that thing, she's so _repulsive_.." She would say. Chihiro would just pretend not to hear and go about her day.

And sure enough when Chihiro stepped into the bath hall that stank of stale salty water and eggs, who should appear peeking from the floor above but Ryui and her posse of giggling girl friends.

Chihiro tried not to look up, and just set her mind on her work. She climbed up to the edge of the giant tub as memories from her first visit came flooding back to her.

Chihiro smiled. She was so little back then, so small on such a grand adventure. The memory made this task hardly work at all. She climbed in with her bucket and scrub brush and began shoveling the excess water and grime out onto the floor where she could mop it up. After a moment or so a tingling burn on her shins and wrists began to steal her attention. She ignored it a while longer until something dawned on her. The egg smell was sulfur, and she was standing in a bath of viscous chemicals.

She clambered out of the tub and fell onto her butt and began frantically assessing the damage. Her skin was blood red and blistering. She looked down at her raw legs then up to her shriveled hands. Chihiro ran to the nearest washroom and splashed cold water all over her arms and then lifted her foot into the sink trying to wash the chemicals away before they did any more damage, but it was a bit late.

Chihiro chewed her lip trying not to cry from the searing pain.

"Sulfur baths, seriously!" she screamed internally. She leaned against the wall eyes shut tight, gritting her teeth. She wasn't sure but she was almost certain she could hear Ryui laughing away in the background...

..

Chihiro hadn't seen Haku in almost two whole days, and perhaps the distance was a blessing. She wasn't sure if she could lie to him, even if she was mad. She wanted to ask him why he'd kept the truth from her for so long about what she really was in this world. He had told her it wasn't safe, sure, but he'd never really told her why.

Now that she knew, she wondered if before they had met, had he ever believed the same beliefs that the rest of this world did? That she was just a hunk of flesh to be used. A soulless stock animal. No, surely that couldn't have ever been Haku.

Jin was waiting on the bridge with a cigarette, hands stuffed in his pockets.

"Alright, you know the drill." He said with a sigh, bending down on one knee and tilting his shoulder.

"This is degrading, you know.." Chihiro sighed, climbing onto his back.

"Said the Princess to the pack mule." Jin growled facetiously before taking off like a bullet, once again sending the land around into a blur of color. He had taken them back to the same island from the day before. It was small and flat and held only three gnarled gum trees, mangled by wind and bleached by the sun. The surrounding sea was as calm and reflective as glass. Nothing around but the deafening silence.

Jin set her down and rubbed his shoulders.

"Before we begin, your going to meditate." He said very simply, sitting himself down against the bark of the old gum tree and lighting a new cigarette.

"How am I supposed to do that with you watching me?" She asked with an eye roll as the fog from his smoke lofted in her direction.

"Whining. What a wonderful way to start. Now sit down and begin." He instructed upon a heavy billowing exhale that shrouded his face in a cloud.

"But I don't know how to meditate." Chihiro said feeling agitated and under slept.

"Meditation isn't something you learn, its something you do. Sit down and begin."

Chihiro grumbled under her breath. His bossy attitude was far from inspiring. Regardless, she sat down in the long grass and took a last look across the cellophane sea before closing her eyes.

The silence became so great and heavy that it held its own pressure. Every once in a while she could hear Jin exhale, long and slow. It sounded like a wave on some far away shore. The smell wasn't helping her find peace, however. Chihiro wasn't sure what she was supposed to be thinking about. She was almost certain that she wasn't supposed to be thinking about _anything_ , which was a concept entirely unfathomable to her. How does one think about nothing when consciously thinking about how your thinking about nothing is still thinking about something? It just didn't make sense. Or was she supposed to be imagining a relaxing oasis, or some kind of third eye within?. As she pondered, her frustration turned into a fuzzy blanket. Her thoughts were careening off into the clouds where words and images began to blur together into nothing important at all.

"Hey!" Jin barked.

Chihiro shot awake just before falling forward on her face.

"Your here to meditate, not nap." He said curtly, folding his arms over his chest, his legs crossed leisurly before him, eyes still closed.

"Are you sure, cuz your looking pretty comfortable over there.?" Chihiro jeered angrily.

"Oh, _I'm_ here to nap. But _you_ are not. Now begin again."

Chihiro was furious, hungry, and exhausted. She had no patience for his snarky nature and shot to her feet in a rage.

"You can't expect me to just figure out what I'm supposed to be doing without any instruction! You said you were going to teach me how to fight!"

"And I will." He said calmly, eyes still closed, laying leisurely in the shade. "After you meditate."

Chihiro snarled through grit teeth. "I don't know how!"

"Yes you do."

"No I really don't, trust me!"

Jin had no response, he just went on basking in the grass. Chihiro was furious. She collapsed angrily to her knees and cried out as the rough earth scourged her blistered legs. She'd forgotten about the chemical burns from earlier. She looked at her hands, they were raw and shriveled, looking a bit worse than before.

"That looks pretty bad.." Jin said as he suddenly crouched beside her.

"Stupid sulfur baths.. _Sulfur_...who bathes in _Sulfur_..?" Chihiro lamented. "Hey, you can heal them right?" She asked hopefully, regretting her outburst a bit.

Jin shook his head. "No. I'm afraid not. Healing is something I can't do. Tried it a million times, but its just a different kind of energy that I don't seem to carry."

"We'll what _can_ you do. Just light cigarettes all day?!" Chihiro shot snidely.

Jin smirked at her. "Are you always this bratty?"

Chihiro felt a flush of rage that subsided into a sigh rather quickly.

"No..Sorry. I haven't slept in a while.." She said softly, a little blush to her cheeks. Jin just smiled and sat down cross legged beside her. He closed his eye and took a breath. "We will train when your hands are healed. For now, just relax and clear your mind."

Chihiro glanced at him incredulously. Was this his way of being nice? If it was, it was working. She carefully crossed her aching legs and closed her eyes, and spent the rest of their session fighting away exhaustion.

…

She made her way up the empty stairs around three pm, the bath house still fast asleep. Jin had promised that when her hands had healed they would begin again, and that for now she should practice meditation whenever she could.

All she could think about was sleep, and the fact that she had to be awake in four hours, to a full day of practice, work, and then more practice.

"Ugh, Ryui you shrew.." Chihiro hissed as she tried to bend her fingers without the feeling that her skin might tear into pieces like soggy paper.

"I've been looking for you." Haku's familiar voice sounded from behind her sending her heart into a fast and heavy rhythm. Chihiro stopped and turned around slowly to face him, unprepared for the encounter.

"Where have you be- _What happened to your hands_!" He said in alarm, reaching out and taking her forearms to examine them. The top layer was dissolving away to reveal an opaque film of raw festering skin. A cooling tingle encompassed her hands starting at the finger tips and spreading down her forearms, then her spine then down to her legs. The feeling was so welcoming. She wished she could just fall into it and drift away to sleep.

"Chihiro?" Haku asked again, studying her pale skin and dark tired eyes with a furrow in his brow.

"Oh. A sulfur bath.. I think Ryui wants me dead." Chihiro said a bit dryly. She was to tired to realize that Haku would take that quite seriously. But then again why shouldn't he?. There was a very good chance that more people than just Ryui hoped she'd die.

"What are you doing out so late.." Haku asked flatly, half expecting a fib.

This was it. Chihiro had to do what she was worst at. Lie. Her freshly healed fingers began to strum away at one another. This was a nervous tick that Haku had picked up on. She was under stress.

"I couldn't sleep so I went for a walk." She sighed, looking defeated and so very very tired. Haku knew she was being dishonest, but all he wanted to do was take her to his room and let her sleep. Maybe when she woke up she'd be herself again. But she smiled weakly at him and said, "Night. I've gotta go try and sleep before work.." she made her way up the stairs and he called to her.

"Chihiro, I'm sorry for asking you to leave.."

She stopped on the stairway platform and turned to him with a sad smile.

"I know," she said softly. "Thanks by the way." She added, waving her new hands. Then she disappeared down the hall to the girls dorm leaving Haku in a lonely haze of disbelief. But then a sudden patter sounded as her little feet struck the floor, and Chihiro came bursting into view once more, looking a bit more alive.

"Hey Haku...Do you ever meditate..?" She asked, exasperated from her short run.

"Of course, why?" He inquired quizzically.

"I just...thought I'd try it. You know, help sort out my thoughts or something...what exactly am I supposed to do?"

Haku was caught by the question.

"Well..I think its personal to everyone..What works for one person may not work for another.." He explained, very intrigued by her sudden interest.

Chihiro sighed, feeling dissatisfied and even more exhausted. "Alright. Thanks." She groaned as she made her way to bed.

Haku sighed, alone in the quiet stairwell, not surprisingly perplexed by the odd little human. It was happening a lot lately.


	9. Chapter 9

"So, you never did explain to me what a Dyubbuk is.." Chihiro whispered in the practice room between songs and their typical spats. Jin gave her a stern glare then appeared to stare through the walls around them to be sure that no one was in earshot. Once satisfied, He shook his head with a sigh but responded anyway.

"It's a slang term for a collector. Like me." Jin explained under his breath, leaning in with a singed cigarette pinched in his scowl. "Except they tend to be the type that delve into the darker side of the trade. That human in Yubaba's office was a rare occurrence for me. I usually stick to precious metals and botanicals, which by the way, this bath house is a Gold Mine! Your dragon rakes in the good stuff like it grows from his own pockets. I'll be rich when I leave here!" He added cheerily as he made to stand.

Chihiro grimaced and folded her arms over her chest, glaring up at him as he went on to crush the spent filter of his smoke into the ash tray on the tabletop.

"I said I wouldn't tell anyone you're a human, but that doesn't mean I wont tell them you're a thief."

"Oh, lighten up. Your laces can't get any straighter." Jin piqued as he flipped another cigarette into his mouth before lighting it with his pinkie as always. "Don't forget that I'm the one doing you a favor here, and sticking my neck out like a damn snapping turtle just to give you a fighting chance in this world."

Chihiro's brow furrowed. "You bring up a good point. Why _are_ you helping me?"

Jin scoffed as he tied his hair back. "There's that skepticism, again. I've told you once. I've told you a hundred times. Your organs are safe. I only harvest humans when its easy and deserved."

"How noble of you." Chihiro grumbled as a shiver traveled down her spine. "But really...why do you want to help me...?" She asked once more, making an effort to unwind her shoulders.

Jin leaned back against a stack of tables near the wall and folded his arms with a sigh. He cocked his head and starred thoughtfully at the floor, tracing the mosaic patterns of the tiles with his eye until he glanced back up to say,

"I feel... _lighter_...Not being the only one.."

His voice was soft. It gave over a lonely vulnerability that was far from his usual persona. Chihiro sat frozen by it and were about to utter some clumsy reassurance when Jin's thoughtful gaze snapped back to normal as he smirked, "Besides, now I've got an offer to play should I ever find myself in dire negotiations. You're flesh is a hell of a lot better then these battered haunches. Any collector would drop me in a second for a lead on your whereabouts."

Chihiro grunted and rolled her eyes, turning her gaze to the door with her nose in the air. Whatever glimpse of the real Jin she'd spied in him had been swallowed back up by the conniving, wily, feind that was his day to day guise.

Thankfully for Chihiro it was time to get back to her typical workload. Dusk till dawn was all deck scrubs, dustpans, and her best bedside manner. At least her evening practice was over and she was very much looking forward to a change of air, even if it meant working until morning when they'd meet once more. But, just as each were getting to their feet the door to the practice room slid gently on its rungs. Haku, poised head to toe in perfectly pressed robes, stepped inside with a polite nod.

Chihiro's chest began to thrum as immobilizing anxiety buzzed through her every vein. She stole an involuntary glance at Jin, the source of all her lies and discomfort, and of course the black haired scoundrel stood as cool as a cucumber.

"Good morning, Chihiro" Haku bid warmly, until his gaze slid over to Jin, and the dragon's veridian eyes began to ice over. But before that frost could settle he tore his gaze back to Chihiro with renewed sincerity.

"I've taken the liberty of doing your days work for you so that you and I might spend some time together. That being said, I hope I haven't overstepped." Haku conveyed with perfect cordiality.

Chihiro was stunned, her jaw hanging lax. In fact, it took nearly a solid thirty seconds for what he'd said to even begin to register.

"You finished it all..In _Two Hours_?!" Chihiro baffled loudly.

"Yes. I hope that's alright." Haku asked as he studied the look on her face with interest.

Jin snickered, slinging his guitar over his shoulder while sliding past Haku.

"See _you_ later." Jin said with his gaze locked to Chihiro's wide brown eyes. There was a vulpine tone in his dusky voice that visibly rubbed Haku the wrong way, but no sooner had Jin disappeared out into the corridor Haku's pleasant smile returned. Chihiro could have sworn that Jin had a look in his one remaining eye that said. _"You say even one word to puff-the-magic-dragon and you'll be sorry."_

Panic stricken, and desperately wishing that running away wouldn't raise any red flags, Chihiro stood before Haku with sweaty palms, and fluttering lungs.

 _Must. Find. Exit_. Chihiro whimpered inside as her eyes scanned the room, lusting after the door, but once her gaze slid up the chest of the man before her and caught his stare she was fixed in place. Haku stood awaiting an answer.

His company was complicated. Chihiro hated that aspect of her self defense training with Jin. She would need to continue being dishonest with Haku, and that were something much more easily done far from his gaze and the wake of his smile.

"How did you do all that so fast?" Chihiro managed to squeak. She, herself, could hear the trembling in her voice, but if he'd noticed it, it hadn't shown in his expression. But surely he knew...

Haku smiled warmly. "Well, I can fly. It tends to make things much easier."

"Right. Duh..heh heh.." Chihiro stuttered, trying to laugh normally, but the more she tried to recover, the more awkward she became.

"W-w-well Thank you very much. I hate to admit it but work has been a little overwhelming for me lately... But Hey! Don't tell the other girls you did my share of work. I'll never hear the end of it.." She groaned, knowing they'd find out, and probably already knew.

"Of course not." Haku assured as he held his hand to his chest, sealing the gesture with a smile. "You've been so busy lately it's as if you've become a stranger to me. You're a ghost in these halls that I scarcely catch a glimpse of, and If its still due to my harsh manners before-"

"No!" Chihiro interjected so abruptly that it cut into his sentence. "No, It's not that, I'm just really caught up, what with the festival, and work, and, Lin's just, you know how she is, and-"

"I'm relieved." Haku smiled as he took her shoulders to cease her filibustering. "Now that you have the time, would you like to go out with me tonight on a bit of an adventure?"

Chihiro felt suddenly less tired, her heart beating out of rhythm for a reason more savory than lying. But sour guilt reared in the after taste of her excitement. Guilt and self-loathing aside, could she even say no if she wanted to?

Chihiro smiled meekly up at him and his perfect, asymmetrical, and unfairly pristine complexion that held a welcoming smile, and she got her answer. Of course she couldn't say no.

"Uh, sure..What did you have in mind?"

...

Haku lead her down the employee corridors toward the back of the bath house, through the bustling kitchens and stock rooms stacked to the ceiling with frozen crates of poultry. Racks of fish and hanging chops were like dark pires of crimson towering this way and that against a rainbow backdrop of various ingredients. He sped them past a maze of produce barrels and troughs full of colorful vegetables until a small door lost in the back of the overcrowded pantry lead down a quiet wooden staircase, cramped on either side by crumbling red brick. She wasn't sure, but Chihiro thought that maybe she recognized where they were going. Sure enough, the sound of the boiler chugging and churning grew. It reverberated through the thick walls like a kiln, and hummed into the wooden planks of the stair. A stifling heat blushed up at their faces, and sank through their clothes as he lead them ever closer. They came to a dead end at a tall wooden wall where Haku knelt down and slid back a panel in the woodwork just large enough to slip through, and once her feet were firmly planted on the other side the scene that struck Chihiro was one she would never forget.

A monstrous conglomeration of ash and soot sat hulking in Kumaji's chair doing a haunting impression of the daddy-long-legged man. The soot balls had taken over his position quite literally, conjoining themselves to one another to create a soppy, gelatinous silhouette in his image. The long assembled arms dripped with squeaking little ash mites that couldn't keep hold, and went pluming into tiny clouds of smoke as they hit the ground.

The fabricated monster reached above Haku and Chihiro to retrieve a bundle of herbs from one of a thousand cabinets that covered every inch of the wall, raining a few soot balls down onto their heads. One by one they began to notice Chihiro, and soon after they all came tumbling forth, abandoning their charade to crowd around her, squeaking as loudly as their tiny forms could muster.

"Hello, Everyone!" Chihiro giggled, as the spellbound little creatures celebrated her return, staining her bare feet with ash as they clambered up to her ankles. Haku withdrew a package from his haori and handed it down onto the backs of a clustered pair of soot.

"The Perigindi, for the rose soak. Use it sparingly. It becomes overpowering quite easily." He instructed with an orderly gaze.

The soot mites, that would have normally stalled for time under Kumaji's demand, didn't hesitate to resume their work now that Haku was in charge. They simply chirped a response and scurried away, returning to their task as Kumaji, slave to the boiler. They piled on top of one another until Kumaji's form was made, and then one of those long and teeming arms gave Chihiro a thumbs up, and a few of their wide peering eyes began to wink and giggle.

Chihiro waved back and smiled awkwardly at their gesture until Haku took her by the hand and lead her over a plank between four monstrous, hissing vats of steam, then out through a rough door on loose hinges to a stair that wound down over the water to a small wooden dock.

"You still haven't told me where we're going?" Chihiro chimed, one hand in his, the other out stretched to keep her balance on the narrow walkway.

Haku said nothing as he picked up speed. Instead he gave her a mischievous grin as he suddenly let go of her hand and threw himself from the pier.

"Wha! WAIT!" Chihiro cried as he lept up into the air over the water. She just barely skidded to a stop at the very edge, mere inches from the cold sea, but her eyes were solely fixed on what Haku had become. Whirling petals, or moth wings swarming, something had shattered turquoise and silver in the moonlight. Haku had fallen to pieces in a wind of shimmering scale, stretching long across the water before taking shape. The wind lowed as his shadow grew solid, and Chihiro, starring up at him, had completely forgotten where she was.

He was massive, as long and broad as a train, beautifully adorned in long swooping whiskers, and a thick mane of indigo hair. His horns had grown so long that they were beginning to bow into gentle spirals of pale ivory down his back.

Chihiro gasped, unable to articulate the impossible sight. She took a step forward without a thought, and her heart lept into her throat when the dock hadn't caught her foot. Haku shot forward and bumped his muzzle into her arms to re-steady her on dry land. Chihiro laughed at herself for being so astounded, then she timidly raised her hand to brush the lush mane that fell from his mountainous shoulder blades. "I can't believe..this is you.." she nearly whispered through total disbelief.

He seemed to smile, his big white fangs glimmering beneath that wolfish grin. A rumble within his thick chest tumbled from his parted lips, and its deep reverberation tingled through her entire body. It was like a distant roll of thunder. He tilted his head and held it low, beckoning her onto his neck. Chihiro beamed uncontrollably as she clambered over his shoulder then held on to him with all her strength. He gave a warning growl and reared his head, then sprang on the wind up into the sky so fast that the air caught in her throat.

Once the initial fear of heights subsided Chihiro couldn't keep the smile from her face. She didn't try, either. From up there the secrets were too small to bother with. From that height it didn't seem to matter what race, or species she, or any one else in this world was. She was happy.

The moon was full and bright, It's steely gleam drawing shapes from the darkness with its silver shadows. The railway shimmered beneath the cellophane waters tracing the islands across the sea like metallic veins. Through all the beauty she began to also notice land marks she remembered from before. A series of train platforms, a familiar patch of trees.

"Haku? Are we going to Granny's?!" Chihiro squealed with delight. Haku grumbled beneath her with a deep low purr, and the vibration made her teeth buzz in her mouth. A sensation she didn't expect made her breath catch, and her thighs reflexively dug into his neck. She blushed and was extremely thankful that he couldn't see it.

They landed in Zeniba's front yard, and the sorceress came scurrying out from her quaint little cottage with arms open wide.

"Granny!" Chihiro cried, leaping from Haku's massive shoulders to wrap her arms around her.

"Chihiro, My goodness! Is it really you? Just look at you?!" Zeniba mused, taking Chihiro in her arms to study her face.

"You've grown up so lovely! Oh! I've missed you, come in, come in!" She ushered them inside as Haku formed back and followed behind.

No-Face was sitting at the threader as if he'd been there for eight years happily spinning yarn. He nodded and smiled when she'd come in. Chihiro nodded back.

"Now, No Face. That's not a proper greeting. You'll have to forgive him. Those steady hands of his have lead to quite the obsession." Zeniba excused lightly as she gestured to an open closet near the door that was stuffed full of folded hand sewn attire in an array of hues and textures. It looked as though obsession was a fitting word. But, No Face looked peaceful, and that was all that really mattered. Zeniba poured them all tea and began her slew of questions.

"So Chihiro, how is your stay so far with my sister? I trust Haku is taking good care of you? If you ever need a break from that horrible place, you tell him and he will bring you straight here, isn't that right Haku?" Zeniba declared with intention as she raised a brow at him.

"Yes Ma'am." Haku confirmed while giving a polite nod. He was sitting across from Chihiro at Zeniba's kitchen table with a patient smile, Zeniba's large bowl-sized tea cup looking somehow normal in his broad grip.

"My stay has been fine, thank you Granny. But I want to know about you. Tell me everything you and no face have been up to since I've been gone."

"Of course, Dear." Zeniba sat down beside Chihiro at the table, the weight of her head causing the chair beneath her to bow at the legs. The witch took her hands with a warm smile, but once she did a strange glimmer shone in her big globe eyes that startled the whole room.

"My god...Chihiro?! What's happened to you!?"

The wheel to the threader stopped ticking. The room ceased to breath. Haku sat forward in his chair as if waiting for something.

"W-what do you mean..?" Chihiro began nervously as her blood ran cold.

"There's a man, a human man. He-" Zeniba could watch no longer. She saw the human hunt her down and cut her clothes. She could hear the fear. See it as if she were there on the ground beside her. It was too much to see her lovely grand daughter in such a state. Zeniba tore her hands away as she starred somberly at Chihiro. The witch struggled to speak, and thankfully Chihiro spoke up before she could voice her fears.

"It's alright, granny. I got away.." Chihiro explained, wearing a quaint half smile to calm Zeniba's nerves.

Zeniba gasped with relief and held Chihiro's little hand to her knobby cheekbone. "Of course you did. You're so strong Chihiro. You always have been."

She wasn't the only one overcome with relief, however. Chihiro smiled at her luck. If Zaniba had searched her mind any longer than she had then images of her training with Jin would have become revealed, and her promise to him would be broken. Chihiro glanced at Haku who looked a little brisk. His brows were furrowed over deep eyes where he sat leaning back in his chair.

..

They caught up over tea for a long while, Chihiro feeling cozy and at home. And when it was time to go, Zeniba handed Haku a brown thin package that crinkled dryly when he'd folded it into his robe.

"This is a good batch. Make sure that boiler man knows to only use a little at a time, other wise..you know." she added with a wink.

Haku nodded and thanked Zeniba and held the door as Chihiro got a great big kiss on the forehead. Once outside, Chihiro was quite surprised when, instead of changing form, Haku lead her through Zeniba's garden and down a thin deer trail through a small meadow awash in pale moonlight. On the other side of a dogwood thicket a sprawling inlet of glassy water lay nestled in on all sides by wispy grass and easy rolling slopes. Haku smiled in the dark, his cheekbones catching the light of the silver moon above.

He sat down near the edge of the water on a shelf of soft grass and beckoned her forward, and she timidly joined him.

"The other day you asked me how to meditate. I thought I might try and help you. If you're still interested?" Haku asked as he gave her a side long glance.

Fireflies had been forced from the grass and were dancing around their heads.

"Y-yes. I would like that." Chihiro stammered, half disappointed and half relieved at the same time. A kiss would have been ideal, but then she'd have surrendered every secret she held in the throws of it all.

Haku smiled, his sea green eyes glistening as they bore into hers, catching soft plumes of iridescent light when a fire fly passed between them.

"Take a look around, Chihiro." Haku encouraged as he did the same. "Listen carefully to the sounds. The crickets, the frogs.. The dew as it settles. The night breeze through the grass.."

Chihiro listened as best she could but the sound of his voice was giving her heart palpitations.

"Now close your eyes, and take a deep breath." He went on, soothing and low. "Don't struggle to find quiet. When a thought comes let it pass into the next thought. Don't fight them.."

Chihiro inhaled, fluttering a bit as she started to spin from a head rush. She took a real deep breath. It had been a while.

"Hold on to nothing. Let go of nothing. Let your thoughts flow past until they blur, until they begin to lose any real meaning, and there between them you'll find the calm you're searching for.."

But before Haku could finish she was gone. He could tell by the beat of her heart. Slow and steady. Her eyes didn't flutter, her lips didn't quiver. She was motionless within herself.

He watched her calmly, studying her gentle collarbones as they rose and fell with her breath. He had hoped that their visit to Zaniba's would have served as more than just a sweet reunion. His plan had nearly worked, but understandably so, the horrifying conditions of her arrival to their world had disturbed Zeniba so greatly that she'd ceased to continue reading Chihiro's memories.

Haku's hand twitched where it rested on his knee. With one touch he could conjure every answer he'd been searching for. One touch of his hand, and all the things she'd been hiding would be known to him.

Haku clenched his fist and bit into his lip, banishing the thought. A violation of privacy in such a manner would be detestable, and certainly unforgivable. He'd scorned her enough with his careless approach to reason with her. No. He'd have to find another way to the truth.

.

Chihiro was in a warm, red darkness. She found no third eye to open, no doorways or gates to unlock. To her it seemed she was surrounded by wet warm sand, heavy and nearly suffocating. It was pulsing around her entirety like an endless earthy womb. She dug into it, forcing it aside in no real direction what so ever until a sensation of release emerged. Like sticking her hand into an oven she discovered a scorching pocket of air. She dug in and what lay on the other side was complete transcendence.

An ocean of fire, ceaseless and unyielding. It was rippling, pulsing. The inferno seemed to concave around her like a mighty beast as her heart beat rose sharply in surprise. She tried frantically to cover it again as the sensation of falling drew her up into cool air. Chihiro then emerged from herself with a gasp, thrusting her hands to the grass to keep from falling over.

Haku was waiting for her. The stars in the sky were winking out as the steely gray of morning pushed back the night.

"It took that long!" Chihiro cried. "It felt like three seconds!"

Haku nodded, "Sometimes it does."

Chihiro could tell that he wanted to ask what she had seen, but she was thankful that he knew better than to pry. She wasn't certain what she had found. _What does it mean when you find hell inside yourself?_ she wondered sarcastically, but then realized that it very well could have been the case.

"Are you ready to go back?" He asked calmly.

Chihiro wasn't ready. She never had time with Haku anymore, and now that her initial anger had subsided about all he'd kept from her, she just wanted to be near to him. Though her own guilt was forcing her away. After all, little did he know, he had just helped her down a forbidden path. One filled with recklessness and the potential to bring about her own demise.. How used would he feel if he knew that..?

She decided to ignore that painful consequence for now. Jin would be waiting near the bridge, and Chihiro was looking forward to rubbing in his face the fact that Haku had succeeded where he had failed. But an inquiry had been gnawing at her ever since discovering the ugly shadow of this realm.

"Haku... When I rode the train last time I was here..there were human spirits on the train..a handful of them... .If we don't belong here why are their spirits here?"

Haku looked thoughtfully across the horizon as the sun began to breech over the land.

"Enlightened Spirits from many different realms come here for rest..I suppose they levitate to the train, and the calm water settlements for its familiarity... And when I told you that you don't belong, I was only-"

"Also.." Chihiro began, feeling a slew of questions lining up in her throat like a parade. "When you stole Zeniba's golden seal..You were hurt.. You were bleeding...But, you're a spirit. How is that possible?"

Haku glanced sideways at her, looking pensive and mellow.

"I'm a spirit, Yes. But not as you're kind would understand. Our worlds and all who reside within it are not so different. Some herbs are shared. Spirit animals of course. Many locations are shared, though marginally skewed. Some things that can be seen in this realm cannot be seen in your own, and naturally, vice versa. Those are the true differences between our realms. Like the shops that line the island, or the bath house its self. They exist in your world, but only as a ruin of its true form. Only within the universe of it's existence can it truly be seen for what it is. The ghosts and spirits that roam the lands and come for rest are merely shadows through your side of the mirror. It's difficult to properly explain. Ah..I've diverged from you're question haven't I.." Haku sighed with a quiet and deep chuckle, and her mind wandered back to what his bellow had inspired in dragon form.

"Haku.." Chihiro began, afraid that her question might divulge too much, but she couldn't resist. She needed to know. She needed a more satisfying answer. "What does it mean...to be _Enlightened_.?"

He held her gaze looking a bit struck, but then his eyes softened before he spoke.

"I'm not a ghost, Chihiro. Of course I can be hurt. I can even be killed. My spirit may be old, but this form is simply a vessel. My true form will outlive this physical one. The body ages, but the spirit is eternal. Yours as well, though the physical body of the human species indicates the youth of the soul within it. Your soul is fresh and new, like all human souls...where as a soul like mine may be thousands of years old, having been repossessed into many forms. All variants of different stages of reincarnation exist between, including unborn souls. Those of plants, microorganisms, raw elements. The unborn rely on their Elemental Spirit to ensure their survival, until their next reincarnation into a body that can sustain it. A vessel of flesh and bone to be more precise. If the Elemental Spirit fails to allow them to flourish and grow, the soul is lost to time without a vessel to tether to.."

"W-wait a minute..so.." Chihiro stammered, feeling mentally congested. "In a past life..I was a plant..or a germ?"

Haku smiled a chipper smile, "Exactly. Your species is among a variety of animalian vessels. Reptiles, Birds, Mammals, Invertebrates. Anything with the semblance of a cardiovascular system, essentially."

"So..what you're saying... is that my spirit is of the same intelligence and value as a pig's?"

"Yes." He concluded once more, blithe grin unwavering.

Chihiro's eyes fell dead as she grumbled, "No wonder everyone treats me like a barn yard animal.. But I think I get it...unborn souls get taken care of by their Elemental Guardian, right? Like you and your river?"

Haku's face darkened as his smile vanished. He tore his gaze from hers and studied the still water of the pond before them with a pain in his eyes that Chihiro didn't at first recognize.

"Yes." He said softly.

Chihiro felt awful for being so careless. Her tired brain hadn't pieced together the meaning behind his explanation. Haku had failed his river, and all the spirits tethered to him. He had essentially failed his children, and lost them all..

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize what-"

"I hope my explanation was sufficient." Haku cut her off with a quaint smile as he got to his feet. Chihiro gazed up at him feeling sick with shame, but somehow Haku's sadness had been tucked away before she'd had the time to say anything. He retained his usual smile as he held out his hand and pulled her gently from the grass.

"Let's get you back. You don't sleep enough, Chihiro."

..

Chihiro had to pretend to fall asleep in the girls quarters to be sure that Haku didn't catch a glimpse of her sneaking off into the morning to meet with Jin. She felt like a wretched sneak, but a promise was a promise. Besides, she wanted nothing more than to hold her own in this dangerous place. After all, Haku had been right. He wouldn't always be there to protect her. There were many ways to wind up in this world, and for her they were all just varying degrees of dead.

She met Jin on the bridge.

"We'll, you're out late? How salacious." He crooned sarcastically, running his hands through his hair to re-fasten it as he so often did. Chihiro hopped on his back without invitation and made sure to dig into his ribs with her knees.

"Ow! Someone's touchy this morning."

"You complain too much," Chihiro said bluntly, holding tight to his shoulders as they took off into the blur for the island.

"Not sure why I never asked before, but how do you run so fast?" Chihiro asked absentmindedly as she stretched in the sand after clambering down from his back. The morning sun was bright but the air was cool, and Chihiro was thankful for it. Without sleep of caffeine it served as the only thing to keep her awake.

Jin scoffed as he lit a cigarette. "Now, now. Can't give away all my secrets."

Chihiro rolled her eyes, then cringed bitterly as she recalled the end of her evening with Haku. It haunted her. How could she have not realized what she was bringing up? Damn sleep deprivation was stealing away all her common sense.

"So.. Haku showed me how to meditate.." Chihiro said, wondering if she should tell Jin about the fire.

"Bet thats not all he showed you." Jin taunted childishly while making a vulgar gesture with his hands that made her blush. "Loose lips sink ships, and loose women-"

"Your disgusting." She spat, cutting him off before he could say anything worse. _Definitely not telling him._.

"Well, if you're so prepared now, then lets begin." He offered, flicking his cigarette and taking a fighting stance.

"What?! You can't just charge me!" Chihiro cried.

"Why not? Its the best way to learn. Now put em' up and lets see what those spaghetti arms can do."

"Stop saying that!" Chihiro growled as Jin lunged at her.

To his great surprise she managed to block his forearm with her own. He was being gentle of course, but her timing was right.

"Ugh, that hurt you jackass!" She yelped, rubbing the tender bone of her arm.

"I bet it did. Theres, like, no muscle to protect your bones." He went on with a trill of disbelief. "You need to work out and build up some armor before we beat on each other. I want to train you, not maim you."

"Fine! What do you want me to do." she barked with a frustration that only intensified as she watched him glance around for ideas.

"I dunno, run laps I guess.." He suggested with a shrug.

"Wow. Your air of professionalism is so reassuring." she groaned facetiously with dead eyes and a frown.

"Hey, get to it. It's good for your heart."

Chihiro reluctantly began running laps around the small island, finding it both annoying and unfortunate that no matter where she was along the shore, they were still within conversational distance.

"What I don't understand is why I can't have Haku show me all this stuff." Chihiro panted through strides, realizing she was pretty out of shape.

"Yeah right. Trust me when I say, to him humans are as helpless as babies. Which in your particular case, he wouldn't be wrong. And even if he did think you were capable, he wouldn't approve. Its dangerous for us to use it, remember? Use to much and it _will_ kill you."

"Right.." Chihiro sighed. She'd forgotten that she had practically signed on to experiment with the spiritual equivalent of a super powered steroid.

"Though, learning first hand magic like his would be beyond useful." Jin went on with bitter reverence. "Water spirits are at the top of the magical zenith. Humans interacting with them is literally unheard of, yet, you've managed it."

"What -doyoumean- magicalzenith?" Chihiro panted as she slowed to a trot.

"Are you kidding?! Your boy-toy is one of the most powerful creatures in existence. He could level the entire bath house in five minutes if he wanted to."

Chihiro couldn't deny his claim. Haku as his true form came burning back into her mind. He was absolutely enormous, a beautiful and terrifying sequence of pure power and muscle. It wasn't hard to imagine what he was capable of. It was no wonder Yubaba couldn't resist enslaving him all those years ago when he'd come to her velnerable, and without a home. In his right, if it weren't for the loss of his River, Haku would be nearly a god...

That thought ignited like the fire inside her. It burned and lapped at her veins, nagging at her. Chihiro picked up her pace as she ran her laps, ignoring the searing ache in her lungs. She'd need to work a hell of a lot harder to be of any use to anyone. Her hope to save those children. To stop those who caused them to suffer. To hold her own. To keep up with Haku. To survive...

She'd need to work harder. Much, much harder.


	10. Chapter 10

"Sen!"

Chihiro jolted awake to find herself falling asleep while standing, swaying precariously with her chin propped on the handle of a broom. The second floor foyer was where she found herself in a sea of bustling coworkers all shouting and shouldering, crawling over one another like bees in a hive. How she'd actually managed to doze off in the midst of it all was a mystery to both Chihiro, and Lin who'd called her name just in time to keep the weary laggard from losing her front teeth to the floor.

"Come on, Sen. They light the lamps in half an hour and I am NOT missing breakfast because of you again."

"Sorry!" Chihiro groaned. It took a moment to recall what she had been doing just before nodding off. Someone had dropped a terracotta vase in the middle of the chaos and she just so happened to be passing by with a broom headed for the utility closet when it happened. Lin was leading the way as usual and had slapped her dustpan on the floor, with grated force, and began picking up the larger pieces. Chihiro was supposed to be sweeping the rest into aforementioned dustpan. Instead she'd fallen asleep like a horse in a stable.

Normally embarrassment would have swallowed her up, but she were far too tired for such a taxing emotion. Instead Chihiro lumbered forth and swept the remainder of the mess as quickly as her sore and battered limbs would allow, all the while struggling to keep her heavy lids open..

"What's going on with you lately, Sen?" Lin asked as she lead the way through the crowd to stow the broom. Chihiro was barely managing to keep up, weaving through passerby with the stealth and grace of a zombie.

"I'm not gonna lie. You look like shi-"

"Sen! Lin! What Are You Still Doing Here! Eat Now or Go Hungry then Get Your Asses Downstairs!" One of the less pleasant foreman shouted from his literal soapbox in the center of the hall. He was red in the face and sweating profusely from above, towering over the typical legions of first-shift laborers rushing to finish their chores before the doors opened.

"Yeah, Yeah, We Get It!" Lin hollered before turning to Chihiro with a wicked smirk. "Wow. I didn't think it were possible, but look. He's sweatier than last time."

There weren't any real employee mess-halls for workers to eat, so those who found the time would simply squat in the servants corridor behind the kitchens, tucked out of sight from the guests. Even the fourth floor sleeping quarters for the help were designed to be re-purposed during work hours, so at night any real tranquility could only be found in nooks, crannies, and cramped washrooms.

The kitchen corridor in many ways reminded Chihiro of lunch break at school. Albeit, a poorly funded school with little to no concern for their students wellbeing. Otherwise, It was just as loud, crowded, and nerve wracking. Social groups would clot together. The popular hierarchy would segregate the latter, and Chihiro was without fail, permanently bottom rung. The bathhouse hired an array of spirits from fox all the way to frog, and each knew their place, And all appeared to hold the same degree of disdain for the sole human occupying their territory. They'd cover their food and hold their noses as she passed. Any reverence left over from her previous stay had disappeared into long forgotten history with the exception of a very few. Lin had remained her only true friend. There were Sai and Aya, who were more friends through association, and both out of pity most likely. The foreman would speak to her, though never courteously, only due to it being mandatory for their position.

However, when Master Haku were nearby, her work days would fly by without incident or any noteworthy harassment. But it had been two whole weeks since their visit to Zaniba's, and Chihiro was trying her very hardest to elude him. She'd come so close to surrendering her promise once he'd left her that morning in the hall with a kiss on the forehead that prickled her skin. Chihiro was certain that if she had any hope of zipping her yap it would be to stay as distant as possible. Surely Haku had noticed..

More or less, mealtimes were especially degrading, and as Chihiro stepped into the make-shift anteroom, she knew in an instant that this visit would be no exception. They made their way down the corridor, stepping over out-stretched limbs to find an open spot to sit on the floor. Most breaks in the hall went by without any real confrontation, and for that Chihiro was thankful, but tonight Ryui was glaring at her with particular displeasure, and it was then she realized that this evening would not be one of them.

"Here comes the piglet." Ryui hissed while her circle of friends covered their snickering with paper fans and the cuffs of their sleeves.

"You're hilarious, Ryui. So original." Lin chortled sarcastically as she brought Chihiro to the only spot against the wall not being occupied, and also, unfortunately, just beside Ryui. The black haired beauty disregard Lin, and zeroed in on Chihiro with hazel eyes narrowed into slits.

"So, you're back to sleeping in the servants quarters now? It was well over due that Master Haku realize how desperate he'd become. What was the last straw? You not have the right parts under that apron for his liking..?"

Chihiro grimaced, coloring red as an apple before hunching over her knees to chew her mochi in peace. Lin, on the other hand, wasn't feeling quite as passive.

"No mystery left in your slacks, Ryui. Everything from here to the mainlands taken a turn." Lin derided with a snort.

Ryui blushed before rolling her eyes. "I already knew you'd fallen back a few rungs, Lin. But honestly-"

"And I suppose you were an Elementa in your last life? Forgive me, oh enlightened one." Lin jeered venomously. "None of that shit really matters. You don't see the Gods getting into feuds about spiritual values so why the hell do we Tyro give a damn about it?! Just fuck off Ryui." A chord had been struck, and Lin was a powder keg. Everyone within earshot seemed to sense it in the air.

"How far the white fox has fallen." Ryui clicked her tongue condescendingly. "I feel badly for you Lin, I do. But stupidity is catchy, and its high time the both of you were ostracized from the island."

"Why don't you try it!" Lin barked, fists balling at her sides as the both of them stood.

"Gladly!" Ryui hissed, thrusting her snarl into Lin's face.

Chihiro shot to her feet preparing to separate them, but before she could mutter a single word Lin had shoved Ryui back against the wall causing the groups around to flare into an uproar of excitement. It all happened so fast. The crowd began to shout over top of one another, encouragements and disapprovals alike. Faces were peering around stairwells and doorways then emerging to join the circle, fueling the already negative vim in the air. The girls looked ready to tear each other apart, and so Chihiro did the only thing she could and swooped in between two frogs who had barged in front and snatched Lin by the collar of her jumper. The white fox graced the bathhouse with a chorus of colorful words and gestures until Chihiro had managed to wrangle her into the kitchens.

"What are you thinking right now, Rin?! It's just Ryui!"

"She deserves to be shut up. You heard what she said about me. What she said about you!"

"They're just words-"

"For now.." Lin said darkly. "Obviously she's willing to fight over it. Who knows what else she's willing to do.."

Chihiro glanced back at the door to the servants corridor. Things were quieting down now.

"Listen...Chihiro."

Lin had used her real name. It wasn't often that she did, and when she glanced up she found her somber gaze brimming with worry. "Always watch your back. Got it?"

A chill ran through Chihiro as Jin's missing body parts came into mind.. Along with cramped mud marred crates, and empty soulless eyes.. And all she could do was nod.

..

Two whole weeks. Two whole weeks. Chihiro couldn't believe how long it had been. It felt nearly unbearable. Jin and Lin were rather intense company, and his allegiant tranquility would have been a refreshing change of pace.

Haku. What was he up to? Where had he been lately? Probably bartering for herbs, or harvesting them himself. Maybe running errands for Yubaba if she were willing to pay him enough.

These were the only thoughts in mind as Chihiro made her way through the third floor pantry. She'd sort of forgotten what she were supposed to be doing, and was very nearly dying beneath the weight of sleep deprivation, and so Chihiro devised that if she just kept moving then she'd have a few moments of autopilot before someone passing by barked a command. That moment came to soon as Chihiro was torn from her sleepwalking to the twitching mustache of the third floor foreman. His painted brows were hunched over mean eyes, and his flapping jowls were turning purple. Was he screaming? _So that's what that terrible sound was.._

"Sen! Are you Deaf? Go fetch a new vase to replace the one those slimy hands destroyed down stairs. And try not to touch it this time! Use a trolley if you have to, I don't give a damn! Just Get It Done!"

"..but, I didn't-"

"NO EXCUSES!"

Chihiro didn't have the strength to argue, so she turned and left the foreman to his aneurysm and went to fetch a vase to replace the one she hadn't broken. At least she'd get to rest in the elevator for about five to six seconds.

A sudden clutch on her elbow made her jump as her heart shot into her throat. Chihiro spun around to find Jin looking much too serious, and a bit out of breath.

"Where's the dragon!?" He demanded, frantically glancing around the busy hallway as he yanked her around the corner.

"What are you doing!? And what are you talking about!?" Chihiro growled while tearing herself from his grip with a disenchanted frown.

Jin ignored her and craned his head to glare back down the hall.

"-stalks you all day long and isn't here the one instance he's needed-" He grumbled bitterly under his breath.

Chihiro's brows knit together. "Wait... _stalks_ me? What are you-"

"Saving your literal skin." Jin interjected. "So follow me and keep your mouth shut!"

"Wait a minute!" She spat. "What in the heck is going on?"

His only response was grabbing her by the wrist and taking off down the corridor, ducking past intersecting halls as quickly as he could drag her. His eye was working overtime scanning the swarms of her fellow employees.

"Say something! You can't just take me hostage!"

"What part of mouth shut don't you understand?" Jin hissed back as he yanked her arm a bit harder.

Chihiro saw red and was preparing some rebuttal but before she'd had the chance Jin's eye narrowed. He slapped his hand over her jaw and tucked her to the wall with his chest, glaring down the corridor at something she couldn't see.

"Damn!" Jin bolted them through the crowd to a dead end. There was another stairwell ahead, but its entrance stayed locked at all times, and only the foremen had the keys. The stairs were in dire need of repairs, and a serious workplace hazard, but the second Jin's hand grazed the lever, the bar lock slid open with a soft click.

"She's got your scent-!" He said gravely as he tore them through the door before slamming it, closing the whir of the bustling Bathhouse behind it. The only sounds left were their frantic breaths, and the scrape of their sprint on the hollow stair.

"J-Jin..?" Chihiro stammered. _She? Who's She?_ But Chihiro could no longer speak. A lump in her throat kept knotting itself tighter and tighter around her vocal chords. She wasn't ready. Whatever kind of terrible was hunting her down this time, Chihiro knew by her shaking knees, and the tears building in her eyelashes that she wasn't ready.

She wasn't ready to fight for her life.

Jin flew down the stairs faster and faster and Chihiro's lungs were tearing in her chest from his pace. As they curved another platform she glanced up and thought she noticed something not quite right, but in her terror it was hard to discern. A sheen of something gray traveled down from the stairs above through the gap beneath the door. Like a mist, or a dust cloud, but it moved unlike either. Whatever it was, the sight of it made her stomach flop and her heart beat viscously in her chest.

Jin sprinted from the platform, slamming the two of them through the next available door out into the bustling main floor foyer. It was jam packed with monsters and spirits shuffling in from the bathhouse bridge. Chihiro felt Jin's hand wrap even tighter around her own. The flows of guests were nearly impenetrable by this time in the evening, and it was very easy to be separated.

"Damn it!" Jin growled as he pushed faster through the crowds, now shoving everything before him from their path and leaving behind a wake of gasps and glares. Chihiro couldn't see who or what it was that they were running from, but to her sudden horror Jin was swept up off his feet. A hand was clutching him by the neck holding him just off the ground. An enormous hand who's beefy fingers circled all the way around from jaw to collarbone. That was all that Chihiro could see…until the wrist began to form, and then an arm as small specks and particles of matter were torn from the surrounding visitors to solidify their unwelcome company. The crowds around began to shatter and crumble to pieces, looking completely unaware while their atoms fragmented to form a mist of color that passed around Chihiro and Jin like a gentle current of air. Time slowed, the sounds of the busy foyer muted like they'd plunged into the sea, and Three disturbing creatures took shape before them.

The first, a towering muscle bound form. Anatomy of a human, but three times the average size, one bulbous eye fixed in the center of its forehead, two smaller eyes protruding from the hallows of his temples. Each were a milky shade of white, and appeared completely vacant. The other was a scrawny sack of fur and bones. A cat? A man? It walked up-right and dressed in robes, but a thick coat of glossy black fur from ears to tail disproved the latter. It held just a few things in common with the three eyed giant. Its eyes were just as empty, expression all but dead, and each wore a heavy old noose slid tightly around their necks, the ropes thicker than Chihiro's forearms. But neither were as striking, nor as utterly horrifying as the creature that stood between them, holding their woven bounds in claw.

It had the body of a woman to a certain degree. Curvaceous hips and thighs rippled beneath it with power, but the rest of her legs were all wrong. Her knees bent backward, horses hooves struck the floor boards, and more disturbing was the lack of hair. She was nothing but opaque and translucent skin showcasing pulsing purple veins. Chihiro was afraid to look up, but found that she couldn't stop herself. Jin had her tucked behind his arm, shielding the rest of her view, but as soon as she peeked over his shoulder to fully see it, Chihiro felt her soul drop out from the bottoms of her shoes.

She had a sickly chest flat to the bone, every divot in her sternum threatening to pierce thorough. There were no breasts, no navel, Just smooth discolored flesh. Worse was her head. It was completely covered in twine. It wove around and around and around so tightly that the feathered old string adhered directly to her skull. Not a single glimpse of skin shone beneath it, but Chihiro could see the ridges of a nose and high cheekbones. It must have been wrapped like that for an eternity by the way the brittle twine carved angry festering gashes into the skin on her neck. The dips across her eye sockets looked deep...and wet... A drooping stain colored the bindings down her cheeks as though she'd been weeping.

"Jin, my dear, sweet, promised one. My you're coming into nicely aren't you.." The demon purred with a voice far too enticing to belong to such a monstrosity, but still the jaw bone writhed and clicked beneath.

"Coralletta.." Jin hissed as he pulled Chihiro closer.

The creature's dead eyed companions began to twitch, small sounds bubbling up from their throats while their milky eyes began to move about.

"What is it you've found for me my love.?"

Once more the sound of her delicate coo bristled the hairs on Chihiro's arms, but the fear became immobilizing when the Cat-Man swooped jaggedly forward like a stubborn marionette to stare at her through clouded pupils. It came so close that its whiskers grazed her cheek while it's fanged mouth stretched taught and crooked, sounds coming from deep within its chest like someone inside being smothered to death.

Jin didn't so much as flinch, but Chihiro shrunk into his back, holding onto his sleeves for dear life.

"This one's mine." Jin declared with a composed ferocity. "So if you're here to collect I'm prepared to negotiate."

Coralletta laughed softly, and the two creatures beside her fluttered with small tremors like they'd stuck their fingers in an ungrounded socket.

"And what could you possibly give that I haven't already been promised..?" She inquired with the soft plea of some terrible lullaby.

Jin reached into the satchel at his side and from a deep pocket he pulled out a small package and a heavy coin purse.

"I'm willing to pay her worth."

"..With interest...?" Coralletta hissed delightedly.

"Of course." He said coldly through grit teeth as he handed her the package. Coralletta's movements were disturbingly jagged as she thrust the sealed bundle to the nose of the Cat, and once she did all three of their heads cocked sharply to the side.

"Oh, you've been a naughty boy, haven't you. Is that formaldehyde...?How long since it's been cut? Perishable pricing, My Darling...You should know better by now.." She scolded him with a kind of playfulness that sucked the oxygen from the air.

"Doesn't Matter." Jin leveled. "It's been properly cured and prepared. It's ready for use."

A moment passed before she spoke, and all that filled the silence was the far off sounds of the bustling Bathhouse now dismembered around them in the fog. That, and the gurgling of clenched throats, and spit filled lungs.

"Three thousand... A Thousand for each of us.." She bid, flourishing her dead fingers to the suffering souls beside her. "The tongue in addition, and you've got yourself a deal."

 _Tongue_...Chihiro agonized as she eyed the package in Coralletta's grasp. It was white wax paper folded like a chicken breast from a meat market...a faint hint of purple within.. _.That was the man's tongue...?_

Chihiro looked up at Jin, and began to panic immediately when he scoffed with a devilish smirk spreading over his wily canines.

"Oh please." He sneered as he brought his gaze to the large tri-eyed leviathan. "A Thousand for each of you? Barrek's barely even alive. You sucked him dry years ago." Jin protested bitterly as he waved his hand in front of the biggest of its three eyes. "Yo! Barrek! Helloooo... Yeah, no. He's long gone. But for the record, Cora, I'm not mad about it. He's much more agreeable this way."

The tone to his voice had shifted in its typical way, and Chihiro was mortified. This was no time for Jin's devil-may-care attitude. If negotiations failed, she'd find herself wrapped in wax paper.

"Hey Issaki, what about you?" Jin asked as he glanced to the Cat.

"Aaaahhhaaaarrrggaa..." A noise crawled out from the Cat-man's throat that sounded like a passive reply, and Jin blinked hard before a surprised smile fixed to his lips.

"Wow! Good for you, Issaki." Jin cried while giving the zombie-cat a hard smack on the shoulder. "Alright, so 2,000. Issaki's still in the game..Some fucking how."

The sarcasm pouring from Jin's every word was toxic, staining the air around their delicate game of wits. Chihiro could feel her racing heart threatening to give out. If Coralletta refused Jin's compromise, then that would be it. Chihiro's heart would pop beneath the pressure of her terror before the evil thing could even touch her.

The demons voice was calm, but her posture was far from it. Her twined head kept snapping this way and that, and her two puppets would do just the same, as if they were listening for soft voices in the air.

"Fine..." She cooed. "Have it your way, my dear.. And who is your little friend?.. Just what is your name precious girl..?" Her voice was sickly sweet as the cat perked its ears, leaning in once more uncomfortably close.

"Leave her alone, Coralletta." Jin warned. That chilling severity had found its way back into his tone.

"Oh, so touchy...You look well Jin.." She meandered, finally leaving her pawns were they trembled to lean down before Jin's face, the twine on her nose nearly caressing his brow.

"I see you've managed to retain what little remains of that alchemic anatomy of yours...Well done...and to think It wont be long now until it all belongs to me.." She slowly slid her fingers into his hair and unraveled it around his broad shoulders like she were pampering a doll. "One day I'll be back for you, Jin...And I promise..."

Coralletta came in ever closer, her rigid jaw clicking beneath her strings as she whispered in his ear.

"I'll be sure to make good use of you..."

Jin never flinched, but he scowled vehemently. "I'll be holding my breath."

"Please do." She moaned as she trailed her long dead talons down his chest before snagging the coin purse in his open hand. "Until then my darling..."

In a breath they were gone, deteriorating into the bathhouse as it solidified around the two of them, the sounds of a million voices rushing back from the depths. Everything was as it had been. Not a single guest in sight seemed aware of the unholy trio who'd been standing in their midst mere seconds before.

Chihiro couldn't move. She couldn't breath. The anxiety from the madness was all to much to bear. So those had been their faces. A few of the very many who wished to gut her. That would be her final sight should she fail to survive here. Coralletta. It was hard to imagine anything more horrifying, but there were many things worse in this place that were searching. Hunting for her. Looking to remover her from her skin, and piece her out one chunk at a time.

"No wonder they call you Sen." Jin snickered bitterly before turning to meet her gaze. "You're pretty expensive, you know that? If that water lizard was here I wouldn't be short half my stash right now-"

Jin could barely finish his complaint before Chihiro collapsed in his arms, crying heavy tears, jaw clenched tight, fists digging into his sleeves.

"You saved me.." She cried to him in the middle of the foyer both lost in a crowded world of monsters.

Jin stood frozen but warmth bloomed in the hollows of his cheeks. After a moment something long buried inside him returned. He wrapped an arm around her, his other hand against her head, holding her steady as she shook with terror, and relief. "You saved me..." She kept whispering. "You saved me.."

Jin's chest tightened each time she repeated it. In truth, he'd only postponed the threat. She'd be back. Sooner or later she'd be back. Once pray had peaked her interest Coralletta would never truly let it get away. It was clear that she'd taken notice of Chihiro the second she'd passed through the walls of the bathhouse to follow her scent. For now Jin held these fears alone. They'd need to train a hell of a lot harder if Chihiro had any hope of evading the huntress. And yet how could he prepare her if he himself could not escape the Dyubbuk?

"What did she mean..."

Jin flinched, his teeth grinding in his jaw.

"What did she mean _Promised one._..Jin, W-Why do you know Her?.."

When he didn't respond she looked up at him, red eyes pouring heavy tears. "Please...tell me why you know her.." she begged despairingly.

Jin hesitated, but after looking in her broken eyes he shook his head and said, "She was the first Dybuuk that I'd ever seen. The same one that took me to Pron...A few years later when I escaped Mirouw she found me again...like she knew where I was going even before I did.. She's an Arima Lapurra. A soul thief. Mu'ou Dashi. They capture other creatures to compensate for their missing senses. Swallowing them slowly, tethering them to their will for decades until they just...wither away. When that happens the Arima finds another toy... They make for some deadly trackers. The very best in the realm. Cunning, Manipulative, and completely heartless...they're not bound by barriers between alternate realms, and so quite a few have taken up the profession..snatch up little ones right from their beds and bring em' here to sell... When she found me the second time she gave me a choice. She said that she'd take me back to the Aapothecary But we both knew what that meant. I was already harvested. They'd let me sit for a week at best in some crate, then gut me and jar the rest... Or... I could sell myself. Agree to let her collect my body when I came of age. If I survived that long.."

Jin gently stepped away and began to fish around in his pockets for his cigarettes. "Nine years later and she still hasn't cashed in my soul.."

"Jin!" Chihiro cried, crashing into him once more before digging her nails into his shirt. "Wh-what are you going to do..?!"

He scoffed at her, then tried to smile. Anything to get her to stop sniveling. But he understood her fear more than most in this world. She was just as he had been when he'd first laid eyes on Coralletta. A child, alone in a terrifying land. It was a fear like none other. A fear he still felt in his core at the thought of her very name.

"Well, best case scenario? Kill her...Worst case scenario..." Jin patted her head with a heavy sigh. "Well. I think we both know what that looks like.."


	11. Chapter 11

She was certainly making a point to avoid him, but that change had come some time ago. Chihiro seemed different, physically, and otherwise.

She had traded in her clumsiness for an unexplainable new air. Her thin frame was now fit with toned muscle and sun touched skin that defied the nocturnal hours of the Bathhouse. He hadn't caught sight of her tripping over the foyer entry in some time, either, and she even seemed to walk a bit more upright. Although her physique proved hard to ignore, her face gave away something quite contrary to her sudden poise.

Her eyes were dull, and heavy with the stains of exhaustion, and when they weren't, her gaze went wild with fear. She'd roll her thumbs over her index fingers until they were red, and grind her teeth in her jaw.

Haku wondered often what secrets were reeling behind her tired, empty eyes. He needed to know what she knew, but Chihiro never stayed too long in his presence.

There was an ill-conceived excuse for his every advance. When he'd ask her for her time she would insist that she didn't feel well, and when Haku would inquire about her health her eyes would slip to the floor, flashing with lies whenever she'd break their stare. She would always fidget with unease whenever he came too near, and leave him with as few words as possible, and It were no question whom, or what had accounted for her cold shoulder.

 _Jin_.

He had done something to her. Of that Haku was certain. The matter of _What_ he had done, or was still _doing_ remained an obsession to Haku, but with the summer season building to its peak he was stretched for time. His stockpile of cured botanicals were running thin after all the preoccupation with Chihiro's safety. More often than not he would try his hardest to keep watch of her and also stay prudent to his work, if only a little. And so he would perch himself above the foyer glaring down at their practice nearly grinding his pestle through the bowl every time the one eyed miscreant smiled in her direction.

Somewhere below the unease that he felt there was a small part of himself that recognized his own lunacy, and an even smaller part that felt much like a little boy whose favorite toy had been stolen...

When Jin was not attending their practice his behavior was not only visually displeasing, but also quite telling, and it helped to conclude the truth about who this wayward musician truly was.

He would cavort about with a cigarette pinched in his teeth, and a servant girl beneath his arm, paying for the most expensive soaks and finest sake with coin that couldn't possibly be sourced back to a traveling musicians salary. Quite a few of Chihiro's fellow female staff were quick to find that the spirit's pockets ran deep, and those whom he deemed exceptional enough became something like escorts, drinking on the job and frolicking around the arrogant lush like a harem. Worse yet, because of his position Yubaba scarcely raised a brow.

Initially Haku had sought to find the missing body parts in Jin's quarters, the most direct route to his conviction, but more than a few thorough searches turned up little more than a ships worth of tobacco and a repulsive collection of lewd portraits of Tree Nymphs doing what nymphs do best.

Too much time had been spent waiting for the facade to crack. With the festival merely weeks away it were time to hasten things along, and Haku had devised a plan that could not fail...However, it would take travel, and leaving Chihiro alone with a wolf was a difficult decision to make. He would need someone to look after her, and Haku already had a certain loud-mouthed fox in mind.

...

Chihiro's eyes were alive, scanning the brief scene of every corridor that flashed steadily past while she and Lin rode the elevator down to the main floor.

"You look...tense..." Lin noted while giving a nervous glance to the little human beside her. Chihiro's eyes were wide as saucers, and rimmed with deep blue stains. Her jaw looked sewn together, and every click of the elevator pulley letting out slack had her flinching like a feral cat.

"..Did you eat today?" Lin asked timidly.

"I had dinner." Chihiro cawed.

"...Dinner was yesterday..."

"...Was it?"

Chihiro could feel Lin's stare, and all the condescend and worry that came with it, but both of their attentions were drawn to something else as the elevator came to a gentle halt on the main floor, and there stood a figure whose lumpy form was beginning to grow irritatingly familiar.

"Oh, Look Sen, It's the Shrine Spirit... Again!" Lin chimed in her famously fake tone of voice.

Chihiro supposed there was nothing really awful about the Shrine Spirit other than its recent fascination with her. The day before she had considered its presence coincidental, and it hardly outshone the horror she'd endured with Jin just before it appeared, but after the lumpy monster followed her from room to room for a solid three hours, and was now back for more the next day, it seemed coincidence was clearly not the case.

As they stepped from the lift and bowed curtly to the Shrine Spirit Lin began in a peppy tone,

"Say, Chihiro...I know you're kind of in a weird mood, but I had this awesome idea last ni- Oh great..." Lin suddenly derailed as her excitement went sour. "Look who else came to visit you this morning, Sen." Lin scoffed, tilting her head toward where she were looking.

Chihiro followed her gaze to find Haku headed their way with a terribly frigid expression. Servants dove from him left and right and parted a path that he would have surely made himself had they not been wise enough to move.

"I left the stockroom keys upstairs!" Chihiro blurted wildly as she turned on her heel and stormed past the Shrine Spirit who slowly lumbered after her.

"Sen, the elevators right here-!.. Ugh! Idiot.." Lin groaned as she took her gaze from Chihiro's back and turned to find the pissy looking water god glaring down his nose.

"Let me guess, you came to ask for something. Or should I say demand." Lin spurned while giving Haku a rather dry once over.

"I have errands to run." He divulged with a voice unforgiving. "You will look after Chihiro in my stead while I'm away."

"Pfft. I knew you were stalking her. Creepy." Lin sang sarcastically while sucking air in through her teeth to punctuate.

Haku's scowl narrowed, but he swept his hand toward an area of the foyer that was relatively empty, and with a heavy puff of air and a long brow raised Lin regrettably lead the way.

…

 _Get scared or get strong_.

Those had been Jin's parting words of wisdom before he'd left her to get back to work the day before. Words that she didn't exactly find useful. Skipping training with Jin had been a mistake. She hadn't been able to close her eyes anyway, and what good was rest when there were creatures like that lurking around, materializing into the very air you breath?

After their horrendous encounter Jin had granted her a single day without training to rest, but her chance was wasted, spent ringing her fingers and jumping in her sleeping bag to every rustle and peep.

 _Get scared, or get Strong._

For Chihiro it wasn't one or the other. She would have to be both. And in her current state, the first sentiment was winning out over the second. Chihiro was afraid. Those poor babies were delivered to this world in the arms of creatures like her. How could something so awful even exist? Chihiro couldn't get it from her mind. Neither Coralletta nor her sorry looking puppets. And Jin...sooner or later...he'd be one of them...

The sound of rustling fabric somehow wafted through the typical chaos of the bath hall, and Chihiro glanced over her shoulder to find exactly what she expected. The Shrine Spirit was still following her. _Wonderful_. She'd tried asking it several times throughout the day prior if she could assist it in any way, but it lacked all the necessary anthropomorphic features to respond, so instead it just lagged behind her like a tortoise on an invisible leash, mimicking her every direction.

It looked to her like a mound of blankets thrown over a hill. There were bold black kanji scribed into the fabric. It wore a prayer box crown, and talisman and o-mikuji were pinned here and their like ornaments. When it slid over the wax floors on imagined feet some would come loose and flutter to the ground behind it leaving a snail trail of fortunes in its wake, and once outside a birth of several meters each would crumble into piles of white sand, all remnants of a small un-imparted wisdom turned to dust. They were all this way, and whenever a shrine spirit would enter the bathhouse a few of the workers would take to following it around with a dustpan.

Instead, this one was following her.

Lin had said that the spirit was harmless, but having a sentient quilt ghosting around every corner still made Chihiro feel uneasy. Of course, no where near as uneasy as the dread Coralletta inspired.

Chihiro froze just outside the Gooseberry suite where a gaggle of giant yellow birds cooed, bobbing like corks crammed into a giant and overflowing tub, a small army of her fellow employees struggling to submerge them long enough to scrub them clean. They reminded her of marshmallow peeps, though gargantuan in comparison. They had stupid faces. Empty eyes. Not too much unlike the three eyed giant, and the cat-man marionette-

"Hey, Sen! So, How busy are you right now? Not very? That's wonderful! Come here a second." Sai was speaking hurriedly, and only for pleasantries as she linked arms with Chihiro forcing her to walk swiftly into the Cherry blossom suite in the farthest corner of the bath hall.

"Um, hi?" Chihiro stammered awkwardly as she glanced at Sai. Her long, rounded face, and painted eyebrows always reminded Chihiro of some illustrated scroll from the Nara period. Everything about her features were over-exaggerated, and yet muted all at once. The woman had always been nice enough to her, but never quite _this_ familiar. She were clearly up to something.

There were others in the suite waiting for them. Aya, and a few girls she recognized but couldn't recall the names of.

"Took you long enough! This is the only bath open for the next half an hour and you just wasted ten minutes of it!" Aya scolded Sai while glancing behind them at the drawn curtain to the suite entrance. Chihiro followed her gaze and saw all kinds of feet passing in the bath hall, but no quilts swept by, and the Shrine Spirit hadn't followed her in. Chihiro supposed Sai might have scared off her billowing stalker.

"Look at the size of her!" Sai defended, "It's like finding a needle in a haystack!"

The two composed themselves before turning to Chihiro, and the three other girls leaned against the painted panel walls, each wearing mischievous grins.

"So, Sen!" Sai began, coming in close at her side with a sugar sweet smile. "I'm sure you well know that Raja and the other foreman are just the worst, right? Well, Aya and the girls and I came up with the best plan ever..."

Chihiro stood perplexed and Sai looked irked when the little human didn't ask what her marvelous plan was.

"How many times have you dropped tokens down the pulley-shaft?" Aya interjected, swooping to Chihiro's other side.

"Uhh...a lot..."

"Exactly! us too!" Sai rebuffed again. "Don't worry it's not just a human thing, and it's a total pain in the ass having to go back to the stuffy old Raja-face and ask him for another one. I mean, who gave him the right to be so rude all the time?!"

"And his eyes always linger.." One of the other girls shuddered while tugging the collar of her jumper a bit higher over her chest.

"Now we thought, screw em'! We'll get our own tokens!" Sai sang triumphantly.

Chihiro had begun to notice that she was being lead to the pulley shaft, arm in arm. It was a square panel in the wall that opened up like a cupboard, but inside a pulley rope hung where you'd clip your soak token to a small clamp and give it a tug. It would zip off through the maze behind the walls before Kumaji could fill the order. But if you didn't hook the clip all the way, or your hands were slick (common in a bathhouse, after all) The token would clatter down the shaft into the abyss of darkness below.

"You want _me_...to go...down _there_..?" Chihiro stammered meekly, going green and a bit limp.

"You're the tiniest one here. None of us would fit..." Sai explained with a guilty shrug.

Chihiro took a few timid steps forward just to look down the shaft. It was all dark finished wood and endless black aside from the cold draft blowing up at her face.

"Here. Listen." To Chihiro's surprise, Aya took out an old porcelain incense burner from between her breasts and dropped it down the shaft. It disappeared into the darkness and after a long while the soft clatter of it breaking echoed up the narrow crevasse.

Sai very slowly turned to Aya wearing a _very_ dead frown.

"I thought we agreed that the Cedar soap dish was better since _someone's_ going to be shimmying down there barefoot!" Sai retrieved a rather large cedar soap dish out from between her boobs as her tone grew increasingly chafe.

Chihiro couldn't understand how they'd hidden such large objects in their cleavage without it being the least bit obvious. How long had they been toting them around? Chihiro glanced down at her own chest and concluded what she already knew. No way she was smuggling anything in her shirt any time soon.

"Anyway, there's a bottom down there. It doesn't just drop out to the water...soooo...wha'da ya say, Sen?"

Chihiro glanced around knowing full well that these girls weren't really her friends...but if she could do it... Chihiro hated herself for harboring the thought, but, maybe this would grant her some respect among her workmates. On the other hand, could she really crawl down there, alone in the dark...? It certainly sounded like something a brave person would do...

"Do I get to keep some tokens?" Chihiro asked, finding her voice with a force that surprised herself.

"Well, obviously!" Sai cried.

Chihiro glanced down at her toes then back up to their hopeful faces with determination in her chestnut gaze.

"Alright, I'll do it."

.

After a few moments of preparation, and after checking to see that the coast was clear of any incoming authoritative figures, Chihiro took a deep breath and dangled her first foot over the lip of the panel door.

"This is amazing, Chihiro!" Sai squealed, flashing a toothy grin and a thumbs up.

"And watch out at the bottom... _sorry_..." Aya added with a peevish shrug.

The plan was simple enough in her head. Shimmy down using her legs to press her back flat against the wall until she reached the bottom. Sai had given her a small lantern to light, and a bag with a drawstring for the tokens once she got herself down there, but until then it was all pitch dark below.

Chihiro wasn't exactly sure why she had agreed. Was it really for acceptance, and a few extra soak tokens? Anxiety froze her solid at the top when her last leg swung over. She slipped a few inches down and squeaked before she had her feet planted firmly against the opposite wall.

"Are you okay?" Sai whispered down. Chihiro looked up at her, and nodded, but her internal monologue was screaming like a banshee.

 _This is so stupid! This might be the dumbest thing I've ever done! What in the Hell is wrong with Me?! I have no idea whats down there! Is this really how I want to die? Fumbling down some crummy crawlspace! What would Haku think!? What would Dad think?!_

Chihiro froze once again. She hadn't thought about him in a while. What _would_ Dad think..?

 _Get scared, or get Strong..._ A pretty dumb saying.

He probably would have liked it...

Chihiro began her descent one inch at a time, wiggling her butt down just past her heels before bringing her legs down parallel. It was slow going, especially in the dark. Every so often she'd hear a _fffffiipppptt_ just beyond the walls all around her like fluttering wings. She had realized a little way in that they were bath tokens zipping through the maze of pulley shafts that surrounded her. Some would clatter sharply as they rounded corners, and Chihiro would jump and have to catch herself before slipping. If that wasn't bad enough, her legs were beginning to tremble. This was the most intense wall sit of her life, and she could only hope it would be as equally gratifying in the end.

Not knowing where the bottom was was, not surprisingly, torture in the dark. Not a single shred of light made it down to her, and when she looked up only a small sliver of yellow shone through from the cherry blossom suite. For all intents and purposes Chihiro was completely blind, dangling over the deep dark unknown...and also some broken porcelain...

It felt like hours, and just as her legs were about to detach from their joints she realized that she'd run out of wall. Her heels here just above a draft of air that wafted up her backside. She tried to wedge herself with all her might and managed to light the lamp. Chihiro looked down and like a beacon of mercy she saw concrete. That, and a lot of shattered glass. _Great._ She eyed a clear spot below and devised a plan to somehow, against the laws of gravity, swing herself mid air with zero momentum to land on the less threatening looking patch of ground, but before she could prepare her heels lost purchase against the wall as they sliped on brittle dust and grit. Chihiro screamed as she fell before landing hard on her ankles, but somehow, not on glass.

"Huh." Chihiro chirped pleasantly as she stood to test her limbs. "Well, that worked out okay."

She took up the lamp and looked around and gasped when she realized the layout of this secret place. She were just under the first floor, beneath the plumbing and piping above that wound around the pulley-shafts like massive cast iron bowels. She knew there was an abysmal cavern somewhere beneath her that opened like a mouth to Hell full of little, black specters, but this thankfully seemed somewhere above that.

There were hallways this way and that, each just as endless and eerie as the last. Looking up she realized that it would be far too easy getting lost. If she came up at another pulley-shaft there'd be no way to tell which was which. The light coming in from where Sai stood looked as small as a fire fly from that deep below. Luckily there were plenty of tokens right at her feet. At least twenty or more accumulated over who knows how long. Wormsalts and Hawkthorns and fancy Perigindi all coated in a dusting of time. Chihiro stuffed her sack full of as many as she could reach without straying too far from her exit. Next time she'd need a bigger bag. Chihiro could scarcely fit them all without the drawstring snapping, and she was thankful it hadn't taken long. She was eager to ascend. Too long in the dark and your eyes will play tricks.

Suddenly, an odd and frightening sound echoed gently in-between the rhythmic flutter of busy tokens rattling toward the boiler. A heavy brush of fabric scratched at the dusty floor, and colors went warm in the light of her lantern.

Chihiro jumped back and her heart thrashed as The Shrine Spirit floated over the ground into view.

It looked stuffed in the dark hall, each side of it brushing across the walls, its kaleidoscopic cloth snared in cobwebs and dust bunnies.

"Uhm...Hello..." Chihiro offered cautiously. To find that it had followed her to such a place was definitely not a comforting realization, and nor were it a good sign.

As usual the spirit did not answer, nor move. It didn't rustle with breath, or shift in any breeze. It simply loomed over her, bizarrely and unsettlingly out of place. It reminded her of a wax statue in a haunted house, unreal, but looking as though it might jump to life at any moment.

"C-can I help you with anything, sir..." Chihiro asked, but the only response was her own timid voice echoing into the dark.

…

"This is of the utmost importance, Lin. Your nail beds can't possibly be that enticing!"

Lin was all but interested from where she was leaning against the corridor hall, picking at her cuticles with long fingernails until Haku's swift hand struck her own with a sharp clap.

"I Heard You Already!" The fox spirit shouted. "You've got a date with some birds, and you need me to keep your little human alive. Gah! It's not that complicated!" She raised a long brow and sang in a bitter tone "Maybe a little rejection could be good for you? Might put that ego of your's in check."

Haku let out a rather guttural snarl that did little more than spark amusement in Lin's dry expression.

"This isn't about her ignoring me. I'm leaving the island on a very important errand, and Chihiro has enemies here. You know this as well as I do..."

Lin seemed to wander within herself as a frown took her lips.

"She will need you to protect her should anything happen." Haku went on. "It's Jin that worries me most."

The second the mention of his name came to air Lin's usual attitude reemerged.

"Ugh, not this again! Just get over your jealousy! It's not like she's sleeping with the guy."

That thought had yet to previously occur to Haku, and when it did he couldn't keep his lip from pulling back over a sharp fang.

"That was not the root of my worries, but thank you for planting the seed...Just look after her Lin. Impose yourself on her as much as possible. Just for one day. Can you handle that?"

"Yeah yeah, I get it. Stalk her even more than you've been doing, I'm sure she'll really appreciate it. Want me to hold her hand in the bathroom, too?.. _Ugh_. You're losing it, Kohaku. The bathhouse is the safest place Chihiro could possibly be-"

Haku cut her off while resisting the urge to roll his eyes.

"Twenty-Four-Hours. Stay close and Never take your eyes off her. If there were any another way..." Haku added with a labored groan while pinching the bridge of his nose. "Don't tell a soul I'm leaving-"

"Good Gods, I get It! Super secret mission of utmost importance, blah, blah, blah." Lin blared "I bet it's something for Yubaba, isn't it? When did you turn back into a slave, ' _Master'_ Haku?" Lins sneer curled around his name and Haku's glare deepened.

"You haven't the slightest clue." Haku growled frigidly. "Why do I get the sense that you're not taking this seriously? I'm beginning to lose faith in your abilities... Perhaps a little intervention might better convey the severity of the situation.." Haku appeared to be deliberating something while studying his own hand and in response Lin's eyes widened before they narrowed into slits.

"You wouldn't _Dare_..." She hissed. "Taking my free will is a total breech of friendship.."

"Oh, we're friends now?" Haku mused. "Sorry Lin. It wont last long..." He concluded regretfully as he clasped her temples between his thumb and forefinger.

"Oh _Hell_ No! You...ass...Dragon boy...when this is through...I'm-going to..." Lin hadn't been nearly fast enough to dodge his grip, and in a matter of seconds the usual light in her eyes dimmed to a mute blue before returning to chocolate brown. She blinked hard, a wide-eyed expression of curiosity replacing her usual scowl.

"I truly am sorry about this Lin. I'll make it up to you when I return.." Haku promised, a small tinge of remorse to his already burdened tone. "Now, please tell me what you've been asked to do."

"P-Protect Chihiro with... my life.." The fox spirit said as if testing the words in her mouth. Lin gasped suddenly as her eyes shot open wide. "But, Where is she?!"

She dashed for the hall as two white ears perked up from her brown hair. Haku had to resist the urge to follow to be sure that she figured out the task. Lin was a stubborn one. No doubt she was still half-conscious inside the spell, and she'd be sure to make him pay later for it, but for now Haku had just enough confidence in her to turn his back, and walk away.

…

"I'm going to go now..."

The silence in the dark pulley-shaft had grown intolerable in only a matter of seconds. And though she'd dismissed herself a number of times, Chihiro still found it hard to turn her back on the extrinsic creature. It loomed there so out of place, glowing against the dark scene.

"Are you following me..?" Chihiro blurted, and it was then that she noticed her fingers were burning from ringing them over and over again.

Not suprisingly, the mountain of blankets did not speak, But just as she were about to muster the courage to turn her back and begin her strenuous climb to the surface, one of the small notes pinned to its body came loose. The white paper stood out in the dark and fluttered toward her like a leaf falling from a tree. It fluttered so lazily that when Chihiro reached out it fell softly into her palm.

This o-mikuji was different from others she had seen. Different in such a way that the sight of it made her stomach wrench.

The fortune in her grasp was blaring up at her, and somehow, incomprehensibly, in her own hand-writing it read:

 _You lose nothing in life when you give to others_

instead of accepting the impossible trick this spirit had played before her eyes, Chihiro did the only thing she felt she could and tried to scoff.

"Uhh...thanks... I think I've gotten this one before...in a fortune cookie or something.."

No sooner had her final word rolled from her lips the fortune ruptured into bits of white sand, and to her even greater surprise, it hurt. It felt like the paper had given her a shock so sharp it made her jump. Even worse when she looked up from her rather sore right hand, the Shrine Spirit had gone, leaving nothing but the dark and empty corridor, and the parallel streaks in the dust on either wall. It hadn't even made a sound.

Chihiro wondered as she gazed up the shaft at the small speck of light winking down from above how she would ever make it back up to the first floor. The encounter with the Stalker Spirit had made her more than just a bit nervous,and so her knees were trembling. In addition, the message it had given wasn't exactly straightforward. How had it known her handwriting? Had it been following her for that long? And What kind of cheap cookie-cutter message was that?!

Chihiro decided after a few deep breaths that she would further decipher the odd event, but deep in the pits of the bath house with a sack full of lost soak-tokens and a lamp with a waining wick were certainly not the time.

But no sooner had she positioned herself beneath the vertical tunnel of escape a brand new horror struck her square in the face.

How was she supposed to get back up? Even after she brushed the bits of sharp porcelain from her way, the shaft began at just above her neck. How she were supposed to be able to wedge herself with just her arms and then somehow fling her legs up to her chest to begin the climb was a problem she had not been capable of forseeing. Sure, she'd been working out, but it were laughable to consider herself even remotely familiar with parcore, or anything remenescent to a physical feat a ninja might execute, and so she she did the only thing left art her disposal, and panicked.

What else was there left to do?

As if someone above had read her thoughts the panel above looked as thought it were brighter, and the awful yeowl of an animal sounded before something began to barrel down the shaft toward her. Something fast, and furry...!

Chihiro gasped and threw herself out of the way as the creature crashed down into the dark. Its quick breaths thundered all the way down and when it finally reached the cement Chihiro was stunned to find herself in the presence of a Fox with snowy fur, and glowing chocolate eyes in a baggy work uniform.

"...Lin..?" Chihiro bewildered, and as she spoke the creature stood and shape shifted to fill its clothes, a sight that would surely haunt Chihiro in her dreams along with all the other oddities she'd witnessed over the course of her short and peculiar lifetime.

"You're safe now. Come on." Lin was remarkably strong, wrapping an arm around her waste and leaping up the walls, clawed toes and fingers slicing into the wooden panels for traction.

"L-Lin?! Is That Really You?!"

She made good time and before Chihiro could force her to respond she was tossed out into the blinding light of the Cherry blossom suite, surrounded by Sai and the other girls who didn't look quite as happy to see her as she'd imagined.

"What's gotten into you Lin! You were the one who came up with the idea!?" Aya whined with her nose in the air, a crimson hand print glowing on her fair cheek. Sai had one to match it, and the other girls were whimpering in the corner like scolded puppies.

"We have to keep her safe, you guys. It's important. So very very important. Don't you understand?! Look at her! She's not safe! Lets get her safe!" Lin cooed with the tenderness of a euphoric heroin addict.

Chihiro had never once seen Lin's subsequent form, and it appeared as though none of the others had either, for each was starring at the the large white ears that twitched from beneath Lin's long brown hair with looks on their faces that fell somewhere between horror and complete stupor.

"Have you eaten? Have you slept? You look thin. Who put you in the Pulley-Saft? was it your idea? Bad Idea Sen. It's not safe. Come with me. I'll feed you, and water you, and keep you safe."

The crazed fox spirit sang all of this in spastic manner while tossing the dust caked human over her shoulder.

"Wait, our Tokens!" Sai cried. But Lin had sped them from the room without hesitation and was carrying Chihiro like a sack of potatoes through the busy bath hall without a care in the world for all the bewildered glances.

"LIN, What in the HELL are you doing?" Raja cried as he appeared from the crowd. "Put her down and Get Back To Work!" The small man demanded, until he noticed the satchel in Chihiro's grip let slip three tokens that clattered loudly on the hardwood.

"Wait, are those Tokens?! Get Back Here!" The foreman demanded in a rage, but Lin had not slowed for a single second and left him behind as she gathered speed before zipping the both of them up the stairs.


	12. Chapter 12

"So, Lin are you Okay? You seem...a little... _Off_..."

Chihiro sat cross-legged on the cool wooden planks of a fifth floor terrace, watching the fox that sat before her scarf down a turkey leg without blinking. The slits in Lin's pupils flashed every time the little human took a breath, and the moon colored ears that perked up from her dark hair kept flicking this way and that. Every once in a while Lin would completely freeze, and her gaze would go vacant when a voice below would come bellowing out from the kitchen windows.

"Has this Happened Before? Is this Normal for You?..!" Chihiro asked rather loudly just in case anyone might hear her and perhaps come to offer up an explanation, or method of escape.

The slits in Lin's glowing eyes intensified when she glanced down at Chihiro's untouched dinner.

"Did you eat enough? You should eat! Are you cold? Are you Sick? You can't get Sick!"

The Fox spirit sprung up and clutched Chihiro by the waist before slinging her over her shoulder. Chihiro grunted and sighed defeated, unable to avoid Lin's fleet movements.

"We'll go Inside. It's _Safe_ inside."

Lin's strange new tone of voice was strained, and sounded as if someone had given her a script that only pertained to Chihiro's behalf, and the intensity of her energy was intimidating to say the least. It was also quite clear by now that if Lin's condition didn't improve it would be impossible to sneak away and train with Jin. That would make it three whole nights that she had skipped training altogether, and the one-eyed musician had made sure she knew it during their vocal practice earlier that evening.

Lin set Chihiro down on the floor before prancing over to a tall cupboard door for a blanket.

"You look tired. Are you Tired? I bet you're tired. I have to keep you safe, Sen!" Lin rattled desperately as she snapped out the blanket and whiplashed her charge into bed. Lin scooted around like a finicky squirrel, tucking in every inch of the blanket before perching overhead, her nose only inches away from Chihiro's.

"I feel pretty safe now..." The captive chuckled nervously, glancing around the room in an attempt to avoid Lin's gaze.

"You should sleep." The fox chirped quickly. One of her big round eyes twitched.

"You should maybe go sit over there... Maybe consider blinking..." Chihiro offered uncomfortably, but Lin didn't seem to notice that she'd said a word.

"You know this is during work, right?" and as Chihiro mentioned missing work, her best friends biggest pet peeve, she could see in her expression, the very distinct look of agony.

Lin's ears flattened to her skull before flicking back up into the air. "I have to keep you safe!" She growled, "Haku insists it. You can Never be too safe, Sen! I have to keep you safe!"

Chihiro pushed Lin off and sat up. "Wait! Haku did this to you?"

Lin's lip curled back over a fang. Her teeth were grinding in her jaw that was struggling to cooperate with her vigilant eyes. A deep crease rumpled her red face before she barked.

 _"Did You Eat Enough!?"_

… … ...

 _A Kingdom for the Birds_.

There was never any question as to why such a place earned such a name. Spires of stone grew up from the clouds like jagged bones, white, and starched by the moon, each wearing coats of moss from the snarled jungle below.

It had been many years since Haku last ventured to this place; Not since being freed from Yubaba's control, but it certainly wasn't the beautiful landscape that kept him away. A scourge lived here. It perched in the crags, and shadowy crooks of the mountains, leering from the dark; A terrible scavenger, and Haku suffered the misfortune of knowing it by name.

The night was silent, and painfully, so. Even the wind in his ears went quiet as he slithered over the fog. The haze around him made them hard to spot, at first, until a small flutter caught his eye.

He glided on, paying close attention to his chest. The importance of calm held new meaning here.

A second flutter. A glimpse of black. One sharp caw. The deeper he went into the valley the more the mountains began to enclose him. The stony pillars became solid walls of rock, and the jungle floor threatened to tear them back to the earth with long tendrils of deep green. Flecks of silver and gold began to gleam from beneath the dense foliage all around him as he passed below the gloom. Trash and Treasures tucked away for safe keeping. A million years worth, maybe more, of glittering baubles that the ancient Mountain Spirit had hoarded.

Haku felt them long before he could see them, but they weren't hiding any longer. Crows leered at him with beady eyes from every crop and ledge, Every branch, vine, and twig. The walls of the crevasse were shifting and teeming in waves of feathery black. And the sound that filled the once still air was a shrill chorus of squawking that had Haku's ears flat against his head. He grit his fangs as a scowl took his muzzle.

A sound like a tree snapping in two echoed down the valley as the fog around the mouth of the crevasse cleared in a billow of wind. He pulled his massive wings from the blanket of vines and clapped the air so violently that the crows at his sides went tumbling down the mountain.

Gharroc was awake, and he was not pleased.

 _"It's You, You-you-Youuuu- sca- Scaallley Pessst!"_

Haku grit his fangs. One sentence was horrid enough. The way the creature spoke was a terrible shame. His voice was drawn out and as loud as a crack of thunder, and a stutter interrupted the creatures speak like something between a creaking old oak and a dying animal. It was as if the inner malice were spilling from his crooked beak, and he could scarcely contain it long enough to finish a sentence. And then came the chorus of his brethren. The crows never held their tongues.

 _"Comee T-t-to Returnnn M-mm-mmyyy Trrrinkettssss Mmaaasstter Hak-k-kuuuu..?"_

Haku drifted to a halt on a small crown of stone and pulled the collar of his cloak up over his shoulders. The last of his scales glittered on the breeze, and a few dozen crows swarmed the air and snapped at them hungrily.

"I'm afraid not." Haku declared over the racket. "In fact I've come to take something from you, and I wouldn't worry about your trinkets." Haku slipped his hand into the folds of his cloak to retrieve a heavy satchel of gold. "Its all yours, depending on your civility. This is twice the worth of those silver seals."

 _"Whhaaattt!?"_ The Old Crow bellowed above him. " _H-Hh-h-how isss one t-T-To Payye for senti-t-t-T-timental V-vvalueeee, Y-Y-Young one? I-INnnn GOLLLD? HA!"_

Gharroc spread his tattered wings wide. His matted feathers were still caught in the jungle vines that wove into his stomach like a tuberous root. The Tengu God had been snared by the mountain long before his time, but Haku knew first hand how quickly the tangled fool could strike. _That scar had stayed longer than most._

 _"T-tthat CR-RRROOONE Womannnn!"_ Gharrahsh cursed Yubaba. _"I-i-i Suuupooose She-ee-eess ussed themmm Welllll. I s-s-shhooulddd Killl Youuuu, t-t-ttake Th-ththatttt Golllddd of Yourrssss."_ The Tengu's Sharp beak drew near to Haku's face while those tangled wings encircled him.

"You could try."

The River Spirit watched gigantic black orbs flex down at him and saw within them a great deal of hesitation. The crows that blanketed the landscape went into an uproar, demanding blood, urging their master to tear him to pieces, their wings beating the air until twigs, and feathers fell like rain.

A long groan escaped from the Forgotten Tengu.

 _"W-What I-i-iisItt-t Youu Seeekk...?"_

… … … … … … … ... … ... … … … … … ... ... … … … … … … …

Morning came slowly for Chihiro. Her fellow employees were all nuzzled in and fast asleep after a long night of work. The shades were drawn, with blankets draped, and stuffed into cracks to keep out more light, and the only sounds were those of soft snoring and the occasional rustle of a shifting sleeper.

Only two were wide awake. One overly rested, and anxious Chihiro, and the brainwashed Lin who had yet to recover her ability to blink.

She couldn't lie still any longer. Not after waking up at first light. When the others had come to bed she'd listened as they'd tried to talk to Lin, but Lin had the same response each and every time.

 _"Shhh! Chihiro needs her rest!"_

Chihiro did not, in fact, need her rest. Chihiro just wanted her friend to return to normal, and now that the others were asleep she could test out her plan. Whatever Haku had done to Lin had taken away her free will, along with a considerable portion of her common sense.

"Aahhh, My head!" Chihiro groaned as she rolled over to face Lin who was, not surprisingly, already staring with those wide saucer eyes.

"What is it!" Lin yelped as she scrambled to crouch over her.

"Not so loud!"Chihiro pretended to winced, trying her hardest to look in pain.

"Lin, It's my head, it's-uhh it's..I'm _Dying!_ Yes, I think I'm Dying Lin, Take me to Haku as Fast as you Can!"

The anguish and pure terror in Lin's eyes as she scooped her from her blankets and shot out into the hall made Chihiro feel more than just guilty. Though her performance was cringe-worthy, Lin had taken the bait in one gulp. If Haku were somewhere on the grounds, and if they could find him, Chihiro had to try to convince him to make her normal again. Hopefully, before Lin drove her completely insane.

Lin sprinted down the corridors toward the stairs, hyperventilating and whining all the way to the main floor.

"He isn't here! He isn't! He's-!" Lin stopped mid sob as her head cocked violently to the side. She took one sharp breath as her ears perked, and bolted for the main entry closing Chihiro tighter into her arms. She threw them out the heavy doors with a grunt and the sunlight burned Chihiro's eyes. But above in the blinding clear sky she caught a glimpse of something. Before she could adjust her gaze to the light there was a soft rush of air, and she blinked hard to find Haku.

"Somethings Happened To Her!" Lin screamed while thrusting Chihiro into his arms. " Help Her! Keep Her Safe!"

Haku looked down at Chihiro with a crease in his brow, but Chihiro appeared to be in no real danger, though her glare was note worthy enough.

"Get her back to normal Right _Now!_ " Chihiro demanded as she thrust a finger at Lin.

Haku looked relieved, and smiled warmly while setting Chihiro to her feet. It was then that she noticed the dried blood on his neck, and the tear in the robes at his chest. When he saw her looking he discreetly shifted his cloak.

"Where were you?" Chihiro blurted.

"Visiting an old friend." Haku said much too calmly.

"You're lying..." she said, and the look in Haku's eyes changed.

"And you're hiding something."

His candor left the air feeling stiff. They stared each other down a long moment, neither surrendering another word until Lin interrupted with a high pitched whine.

"Is she safe? Is she safe, now..?!"

Haku raised his hand to the fox spirits temple, and immediately the pupils in Lin's chocolate eyes shrunk back to normal. Her tufted ears flattened to her skull and disappeared into her hair, and no sooner had she gained full control of her limbs, each and every one of them went clawing into Haku.

Barely bothered, he reached into his pockets for coin.

"You Bastard! You think you can just control people like that! My head is killing me! Do you Have ANY Idea what that's like!"

"Yes." Haku interrupted, and the fox spirit went quiet for just a moment. It was easy to forget the time he'd spent as a slave to Yubaba when looking at him now. How he and the old witch had ever managed to make amends was a mystery to most everyone.

"I'm sorry Lin. Here, take this. It should get rid of that headache." Haku slipped something small and red into her hand and with one final apology he headed over the bridge.

"That's it?! You're sorry? You've got to be kidding! No way you're just paying me Off like That!" Lin followed after him creating new curse words at his back as she stalked him into the Bathhouse.

Lin didn't seem to notice, but from where she stood Chihiro could see him limping just a bit.

 _Where were you..?_ She worried to herself once more as he disappeared through the doors. Would he have told her what happened even if they were on speaking terms?

Chihiro couldn't honestly say.

That hidden wall between them had been brought into the light, and now her loneliness was back without distraction. She sighed, alone on the bridge. The train was rumbling below on the shimmering sea. The sun was high, and not a single cloud hovered above. It all seemed rather silly. She'd waited all this time. Spent so much time wishing to see him again, waiting to see him again, and now this?

Though, admittedly, the world she'd once found had changed as she'd grown. The things that seemed frightening before didn't scare her anymore. There were much worse things to fear now.

Chihiro stepped up on the railing of the bridge and leaned over, her ponytail dangling down past her chin. The water was crystal clear from so high. The prairie grass danced in the current.

Even a world as beautiful as this one was not as perfect as she'd imagined. That was the difference between the day dreaming, and the reality of this place. Maybe she was never destined to be here. Maybe she was pushing her fate.

"You look like you need a smoke."

Chihiro wheeled around to find Jin standing on the bridge, smirking his usual smirk. She wrinkled her nose at him and glared.

"You look like you need professional help."

Jin cracked a real smile, and lit a cigarette. "You've got lots to make up." He held out his free hand to her. "And this time I've brought some surprises."


End file.
